A Different First Crewmember
by Red-Haired-Jack
Summary: A slight alteration in the timeline results in two very different childhoods. It's said the most important people to a crew is their captain and navigator. What if these two people met much earlier in life? What if Arlong had come to East Blue too soon, and there had still been a much larger fish resting in that sea?
1. Changes

'Red-Hair' Shanks frowned as a sensation entered the periphery of his observation haki.

Normally even he wouldn't be capable of stretching his unconscious observation sphere across half the ocean, but East Blue didn't have nearly the latent interference of powerful presences found in the other Blues, yet alone the Grand Line that the pirate had spent the large majority of his life sailing. It could be a bit annoying, but he actually enjoyed the faint whispers of potential he picked up from a few of the children across his captain's sea of birth.

This presence, however, was different. It was full malice and strength that the East Blue simply didn't produce in its calm waters.

The body laying next to him stirred, "What is it, Shanks? And don't say it's nothing, you have a far too serious expression on for that."

Shanks smiled briefly, leaning in to give his lover a kiss. "I'm sorry, Makino, but something seems to have swam into a pond little to small for it." He folded the covers off himself, swung his legs over the edge of the bed an reached for his clothes laying on the floor. "The crew and I will sort it out."

Makino audibly gulped as she sat up, not caring as the sheet that had concealed her nude body fell away. "You're gonna need your whole crew?"

Despite the seriousness of the situation, and it not being their first night together, couldn't help but be distracted by the sight. "Um," shaking his head, he refocused. "No, Lucky Benn Yassop and I should be enough, but the Red Ox just sails best with the whole crew. They're stronger than anything _else_ in East blue, but compared to my last duel with Mihawk..." A wry chuckle escaped his throat. Tightening his shash, the one-armed man headed to the door, grabbing his hat from where he'd hung it on a bed post.

"We should only begone a week. Let Luffy know we'll be back before we leave for good."

Makino nodded, Luffy would go nuts if he thought he missed saying goodbye to his hero.

'_I just hope we can get there before he does._' Was Shanks' only concern as he rushed to join his crew. The presence was headed straight for an island that held one of the children that whispered of great potential. And he'd be damned if that potential was harmed while he could prevent it.

-Three days later, in a certain orange grove-

"Shahahaha, under my rule, those without the money to pay shall all die! Shahahaha!" A saw nosed fishman yelled gleefully, standing over the body of what had been an attractive woman. "Is that clear, you pathetic humans!"

A happy-go-lucky octopus fishman stepped out of the house. "Arlong! Look what I found! Sea charts!"

An orange haired girl no older than 10 tackled the octopus man's leg. "Give them back, I'm gonna set sail with those maps!"

Before anyone had the chance to react, a steely voice cut through the hair. "And you will, little miss."

Everyone's attention snapped to the rise that hid the village proper from Bellemere's tangerine grove. A single man stood at the crest of the hill, a cloak, a wide-brimmed strawhat and the sun to his back working to hide his features.

Arlong narrowed his eyes. "And who are you to tell her that? I'm the one in charge of her fate now, human."

"Of course you are," the man replied civilly. "You're a fishman who sailed from the Grand Line. There's probably a grand total of three people who would care enough, and be able to do anything to stop you from taking over most of this peaceful sea."

"And you'd be one them, then?"

"Hai," the man replied, beginning to walk down the hill. "I had planned to simply ask you to leave..." The air was suddenly saturated with the man's presence. "But, for the murder of that woman and these villagers, I will simply end you"

The fishmen were suddenly nervous; the sensation of such a focused killing intent was not something they had expected to face here in East Blue. Back in the Grandline, yes, but here?

Kuroobi took a step forward, steeling himself. "Who are you to threaten us, human? We are a crew of superior beings and you are one man."

"Who am I? Oh, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?" He came to stop in the middle of the crowd of fishmen. His right hand pushed the brim of his hat back, revealing his features. "I'm 'Red-Hair' Shanks, Captain of the Red-Hair pirates. And I'm also from the Grand Line."

The name meant nothing to the humans, though it tickled something in Gen's memory, but the fishmen took an involuntary step away from him, and that meant very much to the people.

After all, they had seen the fishmen flip a _house._

Shanks squatted down next to the orange haired girl. "Hello there, miss. What's your name?"

She sniffled, "N-nami."

The red-head smiled gently at the girl, though the fishmen noticed he didn't have any problem generating the sensation of murderous rage that kept them from wanting to say much at the same time. "Nami, it means wave, right? An excellent name for someone wishing to sail the seas."

Nami returned the smile with a weak one of her own, the man's presence somehow soothing her emotional pain, "R-right?"

Chuckling, the man removed his hat, placing it gently on her head. "This hat is my most precious possession, given to me by my Captain when I was a boy. I can never bear to wear it in a fight if I can help it. Would you mind holding on to it for me?"

The ten-year old used both arms to brace the over sized hat to her head in way of answer.

Shanks grinned happily, even as his words were severe. "There are things out there, Nami, that are terrifying. Beings you can't even imagine. Normal looking people who can do amazing things." As he stood, his cloak fell from his body, revealing a rather ordinary look man... who was lacking his left arm.

Arlong suddenly found his voice. "Shahha! Lose something, Red-Hair! Last I heard you were a two armed man! The rumors of your stength must have been exaggerated of something here could take an arm."

The man grunted noncommittally, unsheathing the large saber at his side. "I bet it on a future generation. Not..." he turned to face Arlong. "That _you_ have to worry about something that far down the road. You'll be dying here, after all."

Arlong spat at Shanks' feet. "Big words for a one-armed man. Kurobi, deal with him."

The manta ray fishmen took a stance, his sword pointed at Shanks' heart. "Of course, Arlong."

Shanks looked back over his shoulder at Nami, startling her with the intensity of his eyes. "Do not look away from this, Nami. If you truly sail the oceans one day, you will travel the Grand Line, and there..." He disappeared in a blur of speed, reappearing in front of Kurobi with his sword extended in a post slash position. A heartbeat later the martial artist's head flew from his body in a shower of blood. "Things like this are ordinary."

With a roar of anger, most of Arlong's crew rushed the red-haired captain, though he seemed unperturbed by the proposition of fighting so many. In fact he continued to speak in a loud and clear voice to Nami that continued to be heard as if they were speaking across a table. "There is an ability to sense your enemies, to know their intentions before they can act on them." He seemed to be demonstrating this very ability as he calmly weaved through the mob of fishmen. "Allowing even someone without great speed to easily outmaneuver their opponents." While none of the villagers bought that the man wasn't fast, he was in fact moving at was best described as a walking speed as he smoothly dodged every attack, while his saber flashed and cut down enemy after enemy.

Then, to the villagers dismay and the hope of the pirates, he stood perfectly still. After a half moment of hesitation, he was attacked from all sides by every man at the Arlong pirate's disposal. To the shock of all fists broke, bullets dropped uselessly to the ground and swords shattered upon contact with his body; a body that every inch of suddenly a pitch black. "And there is a away to strengthen your body a hundred fold... Defensively..." He suddenly thrust his weapon into to the ground and lunged forward, blackened fist raised high as proceeded to 1-hit KO-punch half dozen fishmen. "And offensively."

Nami could only stare at this man, this pirate who was single handily (_literally_) beating the shit out of what had quickly become the terrors of her young life, with awe and continue to hold what that very man had called his greatest treasure to her head. Her older sister, though there was little resemblance due to being unrelated by blood, had finally found her way next to Nami and placed a hand on the orangette's shoulder.

The villagers were in a state of shocked inaction, too stunned by the sheer ability of this man to even consider helping.

As another member of his crew dropped, Arlong finally lost it. With a roar, and eyes reminding people of a seaking, the shark fishman charged the human pirate.

As if he knew it was coming (and he probably did, Nami remembered) Shanks easily sidestepped a punch meant to remove his head and rammed his fist into Arlong's gut, causing the fishman to slump over his shoulder as spit up blood. Recovering quickly, Arlong wrapped the smaller man in a bear hug and lifted him off the ground.

"Shahaha, not so nimble now, are you?"

Shanks just smirked before driving a knee into the larger man's solar plexus, causing Arlong to let go of him as he clutched his arms over his stomach.

"Not another move, Red Hair!" Turning to voice, Shanks nearly snarled at the sight of a blue skinned fishman holding a gun against the strawhat on Nami head. "Unless you want this human to di-" Before he could say anymore , something completely unexpected happened.

With a roar young boy ran out of the woods in a mad dash. Due to the sheer shock value the raven haired youth managed to run right past everyone and, with another yell, leaped into the air. Further shocking everyone his arm stretched a good ten feet behind him before snapping forward like a rubber band and nailing Chu right in his oversized, and extremely sensitive, lips. As Chu stumbled away, Luffy turned his back to Nami and Nojiko protectively as he glared at everyone.

Shanks held back a laugh, though a proud smile covered his face. "That punch might actually be like a pistol one day, Luffy!"

-the first morning of the voyage between Windmill and Cocoyashi-

Lucky was enjoying a nice roast as he strolled the deck of the Red Hair pirates ship, his smile less prominent than normal. He was a man born on an early island of the Grand Line, and as a pirate he had seen the beginning of that seas second half, which gave him an appreciation for what most called the 'weak' East Blue. It was peaceful. And while he enjoyed adventuring with his crew, peace was something to treasure. Whoever had sailed in from the Grand Line to cause hell was going to get some in return.

He blinked, his keen ears picking up a sound of snoring behind some barrels of rum.

This caused the fat man to pause, his expression turning into a full on frown. Normally, finding some of the crew drunk behind some barrels in the morning would not be weird (indeed, it was actually the norm), Lucky _knew_ the crew's snores by now, and this one was unfamiliar. It sounded like a young boys-

With a sinking feeling in his rather large gut he leaned over the barrels to find exactly who he thought he would. "Captain!"

-Meeting room of the Red Ox-

Luffy nervously stood at the foot of a long table, Shank's and his inner circle seated across from him.

Shanks leaned forward on his elbows, his hat shadowing his eyes. "Explain, Luffy." His tone brokered no argument.

Gulping, Luffy started talking. "I-I wanted to sleep on the ship one more time. I know you guys hardly leave before noon, and you normally give the Ox a rundown before you leave, so I wasn't worried about going with you."

Shanks nodded. He remembered the night a few months ago when Luffy had asked if he could sleep on the Red Ox sometimes. Claiming a pirate should get used to sleepeing on the waves. And Luffy was right; they normally wouldn't have left in such a rush, or so early, if they were simply setting sail.

"Luffy, we aren't sailing for other seas. We're headed for a fight. Another pirate crew is sailing to a near by island to cause trouble. We plan to stop them." The captain sighed, "Luffy, there is an iron clad rule on any ship, do you remember what that is?"

The boy thought, Shank's had taught him several rules of life on a ship, but the one that probably applied here was...

"Everyone on a ship must have a job. Everyone most carry their own weight. If you aren't helping, you're harming."

Benn nodded from his spot on his captains left. "Aye. And when battle comes, unless you are too injured at the time, you must fight." He took a drag of his cigarette before continuing. "Us here are the Red Hair pirate's main fighting force, though every man on this ship can hold their own. The Red Ox is a rather large ship, and we all have a role in it's upkeep and sailing. What's yours?"

Luffy pouted, there was only one real option. "Chore boy,"

Shanks grinned, "And what can you offer us in a fight?"

This time the boy grinned, "A punch as strong as a pistol!"

This time it was Yassop that grinned, "You pack a punch, Luffy, but you can't hit the broadside of a barn with that stretching of yours..." He stood, a manic gleam in his eyes. "Yet."

It was decided that Luffy would have two different training days on their way to Cocoyashi Village, the first day he'd train with the Red Hair sharpshooter (cause the idea of Luffy staying put on the boat when they got there wasn't even considered) until he gained some accuracy, and the next he would rest up and spend the day with the crew in general, learning the various things involved with running a ship.

As the door closed behind the boy and Yassop, Benn turned to his captain. "Do you think this is wise, Shanks?"

Shanks shrugged, his gaze thoughtfully trained on the closed door. "We don't have time to sail back to Fusha. And even he does stay put, which we all know he won't, this'll help him when it is his turn to set sail."

Luck and Benn nodded.

-present-

Noticing Chu quickly recovering from the blow and taking aim at Luffy's head, Shanks focused his colorless eyes at the fishman, causing him to fall over, foaming at the mouth and out cold.

Most, even among the fishman hailing from one of the first islands of the second half of the Grand Line, were confused by what had caused Chu to faint. Arlong, however, knew of only one thing that could cause such a reaction, and it filled him with dread.

They were dealing with a goddamned King.

To be the Conquering King meant being able to over power others with a burst of concentrated will that subjugated those who were not strong enough to bear the weight of his spirit crushing down on their own. An newbie would simply release uncontrolled bursts that knocked out anyone in range that was susceptible to their will. Over time the new King would learn to focus at single beings or small groups out of larger crowds.

All living creatures could use Haki, but, just like how not all animals were an apex predator, not everyone could be a King. And being exposed to a King's 'intimidation' triggered a fight or flight response from the depths of one's soul. Most 'fled', simply fainting on the spot. Some fought back. But there were different ways to fight. Most that fought back were strong already, their confidence in their abilities giving them the support to remain conscious. But some were not strong, yet their soul would refuse to accept facts. These spirits would fight by subconsciously strengthening their 'presence' or 'fighting spirit'. They may not win that day, or even remain conscious for long, but they would be stronger for it.

And one out of a million of would actually remain unaffected, their own nature as a King refusing to yield in any way, even to another King.

"You know what? I'm done playing with you louts."

Shanks had an almost impeccable command of his abilities, none more so than his King's Disposition. Roger, and later Rayleigh, had made sure the only other person sailing on the Oro Jackson with the ability was well equipped to handle it. And it was that training that let the humans remain unaffected even as fishmen fell around them, except for two children. These two kids, whom shined with potential in his observation, he purposefully exposed to the weight of his will.

Sadly, for all his training, the very nature of a King's Haki made it impossible to use it lightly; you either were not a target, or got the full brunt of it.

Nami didn't understand what it she was feeling. One moment everything was normal, the next her senses were filled with panic. The sounds around her were muffled, as if she were deep underwater; her breathing was as ragged as if she had just ran a full speed mile; and her eyes unfocused until the only thing she could see was the man with red hair. It was if a god had peeled back his disguise and revealed himself. Everyone here, she knew, lived and died at his whim. It wasn't a simple matter of physical strength, like the fishmen that had upturned her life so easily thanks to their physical superiority to humans, but a spiritual fact.

She was about to black out, when another person entered her tunnel vision. The boy who had punched the blue fishman stood defiantly even as, she was sure, he felt the same intimidating aura radiating from Red Hair. Staring the thin armed boy's back, she realized that Shanks wasn't the only god hiding in human form.

Oh, the boy was nothing to the man. Their age and experience was worlds apart, yet...

Yet the boy stood. In the face of a similar but far greater presence, his nature refused to back down... even if he had no idea what was going on.

Luffy was confused. Shanks was an easy going who laughed off almost anything. The only time he had ever seen so much as a glare on his face before the bandit incident was the first time they met.

-A little over a year ago-

The villagers of Fusha were gathered at the town docks, nervously staring up at the flag flying at an inbound ship's center mass.

"Mayor Woop Slap, do you recognize that pirate mark?" One of the town people asked.

Woop Slap nodded. "I'm afraid I do. That mark belongs to none other than Red Hair Shanks. He's an infamous pirate from the Grand Line."

Everyone within earshot of Woop Slap grasped in shock and terror.

"Pirates from the Grand Line?" Someone asked in disbelief. "Why would they come all the way here?"

"Given the marines' weaker influence in East Blue, these pirates could see us as easy prey," Woop said grimly. "Any pirate from the Grand Line is on a completely different level from any hoodlums around here."

"What can we do?" Another villager asked desperately.

"Maybe... maybe there's a chance we can still get in contact with Garp. He only left over a day ago, but I want that to be a last resort," Woop Slap said in thought. "The last thing we need is a battle between the marines and the pirates here. Hopefully, this can be settled with money."

It wasn't too much longer before the ship docked into port. All the townspeople waited anxiously for the pirates walk off their ship. Luffy felt his heart beat faster when he saw the ladder lower from the ship.

Soon, three pirates came walking onto the dock. One was a fairly tall, lanky looking man with jet-black greasy hair that was tied into ponytail. He also carried a large flintlock rifle tucked into his sash like a it was a sword and wore a serious expression on his face.

The second man was a really fat guy with an eternal grin on his face and red-tinted glasses. He also had a giant piece of meat in his hand and was currently chewing on a mouthful.

The last man had a slim built and wore a black cloak that swung in the wind. His most distinguishing physical features were his short, flaming red hair, and the three parallel scars over his left eye. An old straw hat shaded his eyes.

Luffy stared, the only man he had ever meant with the kind of presence as the red haired man was his grandpa!

Woop Slap stepped forward to confront the pirates. "I am Woop Slap, mayor of this village."

The man with the red hair smiled. "Hello. My name is Shanks and I'm the leader of this band of pirates."

"I know who you are," Woop Slap said harshly. "I would ask why pirates from the Grand Line would come all the way here, but I have my assumptions. If you want our money, you can have it all. Just leave our village peacefully."

Shanks looked at Woop Slap for a moment before cracking up.

"Old man, we don't mean you, or this village, any harm," the man with the greasy hair said calmly.

Shanks nodded. "We didn't come to pillage your village or anything like that. We just came here to relax for a little while. Life on the Grand Line can be tough, so it's nice to take a break every now and then."

The old mayor was taken off-guard by the pirates' attitude. "You will not harm anyone?"

"Just show us where the booze is at and you won't even know we're here," Shanks said with a wide smile.

Makino moved to the front of the crowd, raising a tentative hand. "I... I own the bar in town," The green haired woman said softly. "If you like, you can go there and drink whatever you want."

Shanks grinned, "Hah! What a lovely face to own a bar." Makino blushed prettily, "We'll pay more than fairly, so keep the booze flowing if you can, Ms Bartender."

Benn sighed, "Do you really think it's safe to dock in the hometown of the Marine Hero?"

Shanks dismissively waved his hand over his shoulder, not even turning back to face his first mate. "Old man Garp won't be back for months at the very least. By the time he returns, we'll be long gone." He then dramatically crossed his arms. "Besides, I'm famished and we just finished the last barrel of rum this morning. No pirate crew can function without some form of alcohol. It's against nature."

"It probably would have lasted longer, Boss, if you didn't have that drinking contest with Yasopp," the fat pirate pointed out.

"Hey, I won, didn't I?" Shanks said as he rubbed his head. "It was worth the hangover too."

"Anyway, to the bar, boys!" Shanks yelled to his ship. There was a loud cheer before dozens of pirates came storming off the ship, stunning the poor bartender.

"Sorry about that," Benn apologized to the young woman. "Can you please lead the way to the bar?"

Makino nodded numbly. "Please… follow me."

The pirates followed Makino out of the port and into the main town. Their cheers could be heard across the island and the villagers could only look on in disbelief.

"Are you sure this is a good idea, Woop Slap?" Asked a concerned villager, "We can still contact Garp."

Woop Slap shook his head. "As long as these pirates behave themselves, we don't need to bother Garp. He has enough to worry about with those pirates going crazy in the Grand Line. Although, we may not have any booze for a long time."

Luffy slowly crawled out from his hiding place and stared at the pirates as the disappeared into town. "So, those are pirates?"

The pirates had arrived at midday, and not a single one left the Party Bar before night had fallen. Makino found herself running out of beer after only the first couple of hours and was forced to used her emergency supply. These pirates just seemed to never stop drinking, especially their red haired captain, she seemed to be filling his jug every time she turned around!

Luffy was able to sneak into the bar using the backdoor Makino allowed him to use. From the safety of the backroom, he watched the pirates the entire night. They acted very different than how his grandpa would describe them. His grandfather had always told him how evil and vicious pirates were, but these pirates just acted like regular drunks in town. There was nothing scary about them at all.

It was only after things had quieted down that Luffy left the storage room. Most of the pirates seemed to have passed out, including their captain who was slumped over the bar counter. He was snoring heavily and his strawhat was loosely perched on his head.

"Luffy, you're still here?" Makino asked as she picked up the beer mugs. "Shouldn't you be home by now?"

He shrugged, "It's not like anyone's there."

"Luffy, you shouldn't be here," Makino said as she glanced around at the unconscious pirates.

The boy bravely puffed up his chest. "I'm not afraid of these pirates. And besides," He prodded one of the nearby pirates; when nothing happened Luffy calmly shoved him out his chair, where the pirate continued to snore away. "They're all drunk."

"Still, be careful," Makino warned, getting the Strawhats' attention. "People can be at their most dangerous when they're under the influence of alcohol."

Luffy climbed onto the stool next to Shanks and poked the older man's face. "This is Red Hair, right?"

Makino gave a loud sigh, Luffy wasn't listening to her at all. "Yeah, that's him. I hate to admit it, but he isn't as scary as I expected. He's actually really nice." She blushed, "And cute."

"I still can't believe he's a pirate." Luffy's eyes wondered to Shanks' strawhat. It looked unremarkable, just fairly old and beat up.

A mischievous look suddenly appeared on Luffy's face. He looked at the passed-out captain again before he began to reach for the strawhat. Just as he touched the brim of the hat, however, a hand suddenly grabbed his wrist. Looking back at the captain's face, Luffy was met by two colorless, bloodshot eyes.

"Don't touch my hat," the red-haired captain growled ferociously.

Luffy gave a loud scream as he attempted to pull his hand free, getting Makino's attention.

"Luffy!" Makino exclaimed as she dropped the beer mugs.

Some of the pirates began to stir with the commotion.

He continued to struggle to free himself as he was lifted off his stool. For the first time since the pirate had arrived, Luffy was afraid of this man.

"What do you think you're doing, kid?" Shanks continued to growl at him.

Luffy was near tears. "Let me go! Let me go! Makino, help!"

Makino ran to surrogate son/little brother's side. "Please, Red Hair, let him go! He didn't mean any harm!"

"Hey Boss, it's just a kid," the fat pirate said. "I'm sure he meant no harm."

Shanks kept Luffy suspended in the air for a long moment before he suddenly let go, causing the boy to hit the floor with a thump.

"Aw shit, my head is killing me," Shanks muttered rubbing his eyes.

Luffy started to crawl away, but the pirate with the slick ponytail cut him off before he could escape.

"Isn't it a little late for kids to be up?" Benn asked with a raised eyebrow.

Yasopp pushed him out of the way. "Stop that, you're scaring him. He's been frightened enough already with our captain growling in his face."

Shanks gave a loud grunt in response as he continued to rub his face.

"What's your name?" Yasopp asked.

Luffy was still too scared to speak.

"Hey, sorry about what our captain did to you. He's kind of protective over his hat," Yasopp said with a small smile. "It was a gift from his own Captain, you see."

Luffy's breathing evened out.

The pirate smiled at seeing the lad relax. "Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Yasopp, number one sniper of the Red-Hair Pirates," he said proudly as he put his hand over his chest.

After a moment of silence. "My... name is Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy."

Everyone became silent, staring at the young boy in pure shock. Even Shanks stopped rubbing his face.

"Monkey D?" Shanks repeated slowly. His eyes widening in realization. "You... You're not related by any chance to Monkey D. Garp?"

Luffy nodded, "He's my grandpa."

Shanks looked like he was just struck by lightning. Lucky Roo and Yasopp also were both completely shocked by the revelation. Benn was the only one who looked somewhat unimpressed. The rest of the pirates just gaped in open shock.

"Garp's grandson? I didn't even know he had a kid," Lucky said,

"I didn't even know he was married! What crazy woman hooked up with that nut job!?" Yasopp exclaimed.

"Well, I never would've guessed you were related to _that man_." Benn said, lighting up a cigarette. "You seem too... normal."

Luffy quickly stood up and puffed his chest. "I'm not normal, I'm strong! I can survive in the jungle eating nothing but frogs and snakes."

"Yeah, but why would you?" Yasopp asked as he sweat-dropped.

Luffy pondered the question for several seconds. "Well... because grandpa said it's necessary to become a strong marine."

"What kind of marine is Garp thinking of?" Lucky Roo asked.

Shanks shrugged, "Who knows? You know Garp, Lucky, the man marches to his own drum more than any other marine could ever get away with." He got off his stool and knelt down to Luffy's eye level. "Listen kid, I'm sorry I scared you earlier. But you see, this hat is very important to me. Like Yassop told you already, it was a gift from my former captain, who was like a father to me."

"A father..." Luffy replied, almost curiously.

Shanks smiled and looked fondly at his hat. "Yeah, and that why this hat is my treasure. I don't let anyone touch it."

Luffy looked at Shanks for a moment before he lowered his head remorsefully. "I'm sorry I tried to take it. I just wanted to have some fun with you."

Shanks folded his arms. "You're a pretty bold kid to want to play a trick on a bunch of ruthless, murderous pirates." He gave Luffy an evil grin. "You could have been killed."

"I've been watching you all day. There's nothing scary about you." Luffy fired back,

"Oh, and who almost pissed themselves in fear not even five minutes ago."

Luffy flushed in embarrassment. "I... I wasn't scared! You just startled me."

Shanks busted into a full-blown laugh. "You're such a terrible lair! You were ready to run away and cry to your mother!"

In the rush for another round, no one noticed a far off look in the young boys eyes. "Father... Mother... Huh."

-Bellemere's orange grove-

Luffy still remembered the sense of dread those cold, angry eyes had filled him with. How every instinct he'd developed fighting monkeys under his grandpa's watch had screamed for him to run. That was nothing compared to this. He felt like he was on a sinking dinghy, alone in the middle of the ocean as he stared his idol in the eyes.

Suddenly, he wasn't alone. The orange haired girl he'd saved earlier was standing by his side. Sharing a quick glance at each other, the two stood their ground in front of Red Haired Shanks and did not back down.

The man himself grinned at the children. '_Impressive, even more than I hoped! I don't know who his father or mother is, but Luffy sure takes after his grandpa. And Nami? She's not a Queen, but she's is stubborn to a fault. I just wish I had gotten here in time to save the mother, she must have been an amazing_ _woman._'

Without warning Shank's withdrew his presence, causing the kids to fall over in relieve.

Gen, who had watched everything in sheer amazement was the first to recover. He opened his mouth to say something, but Shanks waved him off. "My crew is taking care of the fishmen at the other villages. The most important thing right now is to give that marine woman a proper burial."

The officer nodded thankfully and, continuing to ignore the wound on his arm, ran to join the group surrounding Bellemere's corpse.

Shanks walked over to the three kids. "Good punch, Luffy."

Luffy's face split in a wide grin, "Hehehe."

Shanks focused on the blue haired girl standing next to Nami. "And you are?"

"Nojiko, Nami's sister."

A flash of regret crossed the one armed man's face, '_Not one, but two girls lost their mother today because I could not get here faster._' "You have a gifted sister, Nojiko." No one had noticed him pick it up, but he held out the sea chart that had originally gotten the fishmen interested in Nami. "This map is as well drawn as any I've seen."

Nami fought down the anxiety his presence stirred in her, the last few minutes fresh in her mind. "Thank you, Red Hair!"

-A few hours later-

The burial had been simple if a bit long, most of the villagers having come to pay their respects to the only casualty of Arlong's day of terror. Shanks had stood off to the side watching Gen Nojiko and Nami stood by the grave marker, the three thanking each person for their presence. Luffy stood at his side, jealously staring at the straw hat still perched on Nami's head, but respectfully keeping his peace.

As the respect givers dwindled to their final numbers, Benn and Lucky walked up the well worn forest path. Each showing a small respect to the dead; Benn was without a cigarette, and Lucky's near constant grin was somber.

The first mate spoke quietly, "It's done, Captain."

The Red Hair Pirates had split upon docking on the island, Shanks taking Luffy with him to where the strongest presence was, his three officers taking groups of men to round up the fishmen harasing the other villages on the large island of Conomi. After the fighting was done, they had then spent time dragging the bodies to the large ship the fishmen had sailed into port on. And, after sacking the ship for anything they found of value, had haphazardly piled the corpses on it's deck.

Shanks nodded, "Good." Pushing off the tree he'd been leaning against, the Grand Line pirate walked up to the three standing next grave marker. Luffy rushed to walk by his side, Lucky and Benn following behind. He stopped at the foot of the grave, staring at the name chiseled in the stone cross before bowing his head. '_Bellemere... I am sorry. If I had been only moments earlier, you would still have gotten to see your girls grow up. They truly are something special, Nojiko and Nami. Nojiko will be a splendid woman. Nami... I sense the potential for greatness in her. Rest in peace._'

He could've sworn he felt a presence leaning against the gravestone. "Thanks, Red Hair."

He blinked. Sometimes, someone singularly talented in observation Haki could sense the spirit of the recently deceased. He was not so gifted with that particular Haki, causing a thin smile to cross the captain's face. '_I see they had a truly splendid woman as a role model!_'

Straightening, he met the eyes of the woman's chosen family. "Give the signal, Benn."

Behind and to his captain's left, Benn silently drew his rifle. Aiming it to sky, the first mate fired a single shot.

The three mourners turned to face the sea, and a moment later two ships came into sight, the Red Ox towed Arlong's galleon. Shanks' ship hauled the Dokuwanga out to where Nami knew from her map studies was the beginning of the areas deep water, before disengaging the grapples connecting the two.

"We are pirates," Shank's spoke. "As were Arlong and his men. Normally I'd let your village turn him in for whatever bounty may be on his head. However, this pirate has ties to the World Government via the newest Shichibukai, Jimbei. I haven't met the man personally yet, but if they are actually friendly, it would've been nothing for a Warlord to pardon what the Government would label a minor incident." His dark eyes drained of color, "So, he gets pirate justice. He is bound on deck, the corpses of his crew around him."

Nami and Luffy shuddered. Shank's wasn't letting his presence weigh down on them, but they could still feel it in the air.

The Red Ox had pulled abreast the Dokuwanga, it's port side canons loaded.

The captain continued, "Nami." At being addressed directly, the girl spun to face Red Hair. He was holding out a flare gun. "This is the signal."

The girl didn't hesitate before grabbing the gun, spinning to face out to sea. Lofting the gun up into the sky, she took a moment to consider her next action. She would give the signal to kill someone. She may not be the one to do the action herself, but she would order it. She thought of the lessons she'd learned from her mother, on the stories Bellemere had shared about her time as a marine. She glanced at her side, at the steely eyes of both Genzo and Nojiko as they stared ahead. She looked behind her at the Red Hair pirates, who stood calmly by. Then the boy, who she had learned was named Luffy, and for some reason her eyes stayed there.

He was a bit younger than herself, but his passable impression of Shanks's posture made him seem a bit older. His arms were crossed, his owlishly round eyes were staring resolutely at the fishmen's ship. He didn't blink as he turned his head to meet her eyes, and she could feel it. He was once again giving off the same pressure as Shanks. Not as strong, not as focused, but still the same feeling of fight or flight stirred in the primal recesses of her mind.

With a squeeze of her finger, she chose fight.

That night was an odd mix of celebration and mourning. All over the island of Conomi people raised first a glass in remembrance of the woman who had been their pride, even if she'd always been a wild child; who had died because she couldn't deny her children. Then they raised another to the pirate Red Hair Shanks for arriving when he did to save the youngest of those very children from a terrible fate.

Then people simply drank, happy to be alive.

And in the center Cocoyashi village those most connected to the incident were having dinner. At one end of the table the three kids sat laughing and talking amongst themselves, Luffy entertaining both girls with stories of the Party Bar, at the other Shanks sat with Gen and the local doctor.

"They're handling it all better than I could've expected," Shanks commented.

Gen shook his head, "Nami might be a bit surprising, but... well, it's not the first time they've lost their family, though Nami was too young to remember. Bellemere found them in a war zone. She quit the marines to come here to raise them. She was never one to pull punches when the girls asked questions about her life as a marine. I believe she'd even been teaching them self defense for awhile now."

The pirate paused, a drink half way to his mouth. "She was a marine?"

The doctor nodded, "Yeah, a former HQ Captain."

Shanks supposed he shouldn't have been surprised he hadn't recognized her; having a flintlock go off in your face would make it hard for most people to be recognizable. "Captain Bellemere..."

Gen looked curious, "Did you know each other?"

Shanks chuckled, "She was hot on arresting me a few years back. Chased me half across Paradise before she up and vanished... Now I know why." Shaking off his surprise, he nodded. "It makes sense then. Those two have old souls already."

Gen asked, "Paradise..?"

He was ignored, "I want to leave my flag at your port." Shanks held up his hand at their shocked expressions. "Listen, I said already that Arlong had ties with a Shichibukai. It's possible he may come here to get retribution. My flag here will deter such a response, at the very least until I can meet him myself and hash this out."

"Your flag will deter a Warlord?" Repeated a flabbergasted doctor, "Just how big a name are you, Red Hair?"

He shrugged, "Big enough that I've already rebutted a few offers to _be_ a Sichibukai."

The other two men gaped.

Meanwhile Luffy had just finished telling Nami and Nojiko a story Yassop had told him, leaving large grins on all three faces.

"Pirates really are a mixed bag," Nami said around her giggles. "Bellemere always said there was more than one kind of pirate."

Luffy nodded, "Yeah. My grandpa always told me pirates are all bad people, but I think he just really wants me to be a marine. Shanks says says its just like anything, there's a good people and a bad people in any group.

Nami also nodded, remembering how Bellemere explained it. "It's true that a good number of pirates are bad people, but you don't have to go around pillaging villages to be a pirate. Some are simply outlaws, they live outside the law but they don't cause much trouble for everyday people. I think Shanks is like that; he doesn't want to hurt anyone, he just wants to live his life as pleases."

"By the same token, not all the marines are great people. There are plenty who let the authority go to their head." Nojiko imitated her mother's voice.

They were quiet for a minute before Luffy's face split into huge, rubber-boy only smile. "I'm going to be a pirate, someday." He said with youthful determination. "Greater than Shanks, greater than anyone."

Nami smiled, "Greater than Red Hair, huh?"

Luffy understood the distinction. Could he be greater than the man in the way he had shown himself to be this afternoon? He didn't hesitate, "Of course. I'm goin' to be the greatest when I'm done."

"The greatest pirate, heh?" Nami seemed lost in thought. "I want to be a navigator. I want to map the whole world one day."

"That'd be awesome!" The boy seemed genuinely excited about her ambition, which caused an odd warmth to spread across her cheeks. "You should be _my_ navigator, Nami!"

The blush on her her deepened, causing her sister to laugh.

Before anymore could be said there was a knock on the door, a moment later it opened to reveal Lucky Roo. "We're ready to depart, Captain."

Shanks nodded, standing from his seat. "Go ahead, Luck, we'll be along shortly. We'll leave a flag for them to hang if they decide to."

The fat man nodded, "Aye, Captain."

The red haired pirate stood, "Time to head out, Luffy."

The boy nodded, following him out to the door. However, he hesitated at before at the threshold, turning to face his orange haired friend. They locked eyes for a moment, light amber brown meeting charcoal black. Time lost meaning, and they forgot there were other people around. They didn't speak simply staring for a timeless moment, before a Luffy grinned. "See you, Navigator."

Nami smiled back, "Keep in touch, Captain."

And no amount of teasing from Nojiko or Shanks would make them regret that shared moment for a second.

-A week later, Fusha docks-

"Are you sure, Makino?" Shanks asked softly, standing close to his lover over the past year.

The bartender's eyes were wet, but she didn't allow a single tear. "Yes, Shanks. I'm not meant for the sea... And Luffy needs me here."

Shanks sighed, it was an old argument between the two. He appreciated the second reason, though, the first reason...

Rouge had rebutted Roger in the same manner. But this was different, because unlike Rouge Makino was...

"I never meant to give you more than a pleasant memory to think back on."

Makino smiled, a hand resting on her stomach. "It's no trouble, Shanks. I never wanted a child, but I will not regret our time together. I will love our child. Now go, the sea is calling you back. The Grand Line is calling you back. I am as meant for the sea as you are for land, and it's time for you to go back."

As much as he wanted to deny it, it was true. East blue had been a nice vacation, but his spirit wouldn't rest until it had returned to the New World. And the ship of a high bounty pirate crew in the New World was no place for a pregnant woman.

Slowly the Captain left the only woman that had taken a piece of his heart from the sea to stand by Luffy, who was standing at the foot of the plank leading up to the Red Ox's deck with a far off look in his face.

"We're leaving, anchor boy."

Luffy twitched at the nickname, but the last few weeks had been a wonder on his patience. "I'm not going to beg to go with you."

Shanks barked in laughter, "I wouldn't even if ya did beg. You don't have what it takes to be a pirate!"

Luffy's developing patience snapped at that. "Yes I do!" He yelled, catching the attention of every single Red Hair pirate. Subconsciously releasing a flare of Haki that wasn't strong enough to knock out a villager yet was _there._ "Nami and I are going to start our own crew, and we'll be stronger than all of you! She's going to draw a map of the whole world, and I'm going to claim it's greatest treasure! I'M GOING TO BE KING OF THE PIRATES!"

"Oh, so you're going to surpass us?" Shanks asked in good humor, before turning serious. "In that case..." He reached for his strawhat,only to placed it on Luffy's head, stunning the boy. "I'll leave this hat to you. You know what this hat means to me, so you better take care of it."

Luffy just stood there dumbfounded as he felt the weight of Shanks' hat on his head. This hat was Shanks' greatest treasure. Something he let no one touch, even his own crew. The only other people Luffy had seen wear it were Nami and Makino. But he... Luffy felt tears beginning to burn his eyes as the full implication of what Shanks had said sank in.

Shanks leaned down to whisper something else into his ear. "I want you to return this hat to me, in good condition," he said softly. "And only after you've become a great pirate. That's our promise, Luffy."

Luffy could only nod as Shanks pulled away from him up the plank on to the Red Ox. Luffy didn't turn his eyes away, even when Makino came to put a hand on his shoulder.

"Pull up the anchor and set sail!" Benn's voice was heard.

Luffy and Makino stayed until the ship was out of sight.

"Hey, Makino?"

Eying her surrogate child curiously, the green haired beauty smiled. "Yes, Luffy?"

"C-can you help me with my writing?"

That perked up an eyebrow, from Shanks had told her about Cocoyashi she had a faint idea of what could be prompting his studious inquiry. "Oh? And what reason could you have for needing such a skill? I thought pirates didn't need to know such things?" She threw his favorite reason not to study back at him.

He huffed, "Pirates may not... But I have a friend now, and I wanna keep in touch with her."

Makino smiled. A friend. Luffy had never had someone his age he considered a friend. The village children liked him well enough, but between Garp craziness and the fact he'd spent most of the last year free from his grandpa hanging out in a bar full of pirates... "A friend, huh? This the same girl that's going to be your Navigator one day?"

He grinned, "Ishisihi, yeah."

"Then it seems only right. A captain and navigator are very important to their crew, after all."

-a several days later-

Nami gasped, her arms trembling as she blocked another strike from her sisters bo staff with her own.

It was late afternoon and the girls had finished their chores and work in the tangerine grove and were spending a half hour on the training Bellemere had started them on.

"You're really going to do it, aren't you?" The older sister asked, breaking of the stalemate to try to land a back kick in her sister's side.

Nami managed to jump back in time to lesson the impact. "Do what?"

"You know what, Nami. Sail off with Luffy one day."

Even after a week and half the mention of the raven haired boy brought a slight flush to her cheeks, though on like before she wasn't distracted enough to let her sister gain the edge in their daily spar. "Yeah."

Nojiko smirked, planning on teasing her sibling further but something caught her eye. "Hey, Gen-san."

Both girls kept sparring as the man approached them. "Training hard I see."

Nojiko giggled, "Well, someone wants to impress a certain boy."

Nami charged, her blush as bright as her hair. "Nojiko!"

"Not a single denial." The bluenete noted, causing her sister's blush to deepen further.

"Hm," Genzo sounded thoughtful. "Wouldn't be a boy by the name of Monkey D. Luffy, would it? Cause I have a letter here addressed to Nami from a boy by that name." The grin on his face was as teasing as any Bellemere would've worn if she'd been delivering such mail.

Nami froze, before rushing Genzo and swiping the envelope from his grasp. With a yell of, "Training's over!" She ran off to read the letter in private.

The remaining two blinked before laughing.

Nami came to a stop in front of her mother's grave, the envelope in one hand and freshly picked mikan in the other. "I got a letter from Luffy, mom." Her blush returned to her face, she set the tangerine on the left arm of Bellemere's cross before sitting down by the cliff so that the ocean filled her vision. After a moment to take in her favorite view, she nervously opened the envelope to pull out the letter within.

The handwriting was a mess, but legible. He told her about Shanks leaving, giving him his hat! That he'd sworn that together they'd find a crew superior to the Red Hair pirates. That she would map the world, and that he would be Pirate King.

The confidence in his, and her own, abilities brought a smile to her face.

They were going to shake the world one day.

**A/N**

**So, I'm back. Five freaking years. Don't ask me about my other stories, they're dead for various reasons. Mainly a lack of interest in my part. I make no promises about this one finishing, but I've been having fun writing this, and I have a notebook of ideas and plot twists to introduce, which is different than how I approached my previous attempts. (Other than one, but I never typed a single word of that one) I'll be picking and choosing various anime and movie arcs to add (though, 8-10 and 12 are for sure, as they have the most authenticity since they directly relate to canon story arcs, and 10&12 were overseen by Oda personally, so I accept those two as canon). There will also be a few completely original arcs, the main one I have mapped out having been hinted at in this chapter (1 internet win for anyone that guesses).**

**So, with that out of the way, I will now clear up, in no particular order, somethings that I think will be most asked in any reviews, I will cover in big questions that I missed here in a preface in the next chapter. I'm going to try to do one of these a month, since that's about how long I worked on this chapter, but I have a very shitty track record so we'll see what happens.**

**Also, most of my information is either my interpretation or taken from the One Piece wikia, or brief internet searches.**

**-The Red Ox; We all know the ship Shanks had in East Blue is not the same as the one he showed up with in Marineford. I found no record of the original ship's name, so I made one up.**

**-The Dokuwanga; The name of a pacific island shark god that ate lost souls, enjoying childrens' souls the most. Seemed appropriate for Arlong's ship.**

**-The travel time between islands was a guess, we all know we have no real idea about the subject in One Piece so I went with what sounded right.**

**-Shanks preferring to fight without his hat; this is my reasoning as to why he's known as 'Red Hair' Shanks rather than 'Strawhat' Shanks. If the marine's thought the epithet worked for Luffy, I don't see why they wouldn't have named Shanks that when he got his own nickname 20 years earlier *shrug***

**-The three people are Shanks, Garp and Dragon. The reason Garps probably didn't put a stop to Arlong himself was his ties to the shichibukai, but if he talked with Jimbei I can't imagine Jimbei not stopping him. And if Dragon had heard about this, say while he was in the area picking up survivors from the grey terminal? I know Arlong isn't the World Government, but that's exactly the kinda shit Dragon is out to stop.**

**-Also, on the matter of Shanks; I'm choosing to believe he wasn't a Yonkou at this point. I don't think even Higuma wouldn't have recognized one of**_**them.**_**Also, the marine's really police the Emperors' movements, and I doubt they'd let one camp out on the same island as Goa Kingdom.**

**-Nami and Nojiko; yes, they're different from canon (kinda one the main driving points of this story, actually). This is in large part due to a change with Bellemere. When Nami ran away in the flashback about her death, it was shown that she had not told Nami about how she had really found her and her sister. In my story she had, and had actually been giving the girls basic lessons in fighting, and had shared stories about her time as a marine. These are large differences in how the sisters were raised, and therefore largely impacting they're personalities.**

**-Luffy managing to do jack to Chu; Luffy's abnormally strong for a boy his age. He seems weak in the flashbacks for various reasons; the other boys his age are Ace and Sabo, both older and having dealt with way more shit at the time. Higuma, while a punk ass bitch, is a full grown man and Luffy was still getting used to being made of rubber. By the time they got to Cocoyashi Luffy had a little over a week to get used to his body, plus Yassop spent a day helping him work on his 'gum gum pistol'. I also made it clear that Chu was taken by complete surprise and that, in my mind at least, those lips**_**have**_**to be super sensitive. It's not like Luffy scored a KO, Chu just stumbled back a bit.**

**-I won't be getting too into Haki out of story, as that will be spoilers. But as far as I'm concerned Nami definitely has latent Haki talent; the bruises and bumps she's given Luffy are proof enough of that. Are they normally in a comedic fashion? Sure. But I like the idea of beefing her up a bit. No one is mastering Haki any time soon, so no worries about them just steam rolling everyone till they run into someone like Crocodile or Enel.**

**-Makino and Shanks; I just**_**like**_**the pairing, and there's the cover art with holding a baby *shrug* Not overly important to the over all story, but having a younger brother/sister type character is one more plot device I'm using to give Luffy a bit more maturity.**

**Hm... I feel like that's about it. It's early, so I should**_**hope**_**there's some questions, but I feel like those are the one that needed addressing. Like I said, I'll try to answer any other questions (that I feel require an answer) in the next chapter's preface.**

**Pairings will be mostly left unsaid for now. I'm a romantic at heart, and I will trying find a partner for most of the crew. At very least the cannon crew (more on that later). There will be a couple multiple relationships, but the only one I'm confirming now is LuffyxHarem.**

**Now, to a few informal polls! First, couples! I will listen to suggestions, please supply some reasons other than 'that would be hot'. Most of the charators in One Piece are incredibly attractive, so that could be almost anyone with almost anyone. Segundo (see what I did there?) is crew. I will probably expand it. This will help change the story, as it will lead to new inner crew dynamics and how they break up to fight. As I'm focusing on East Blue for now, the ones that can join are; Kaya, Johny and Yosaku, and Nojiko.**

**East blue is probably two more chapters; recruiting Zoro Ussop and Sanji, and Loguetown and reverse mountain.**

**Whew, a 1100 word A/N? i'm going to bed, I spent the last six hours pouring over this and its 2 in the morning here on the west coast. Night.**


	2. Setting out, and the second crewmate

The Party Bar was quiet, which was fair early in the morning. The usual noise and bustle the bar enjoyed didn't start until lunch time.

'_Not that it will ever be as lively as when the Red Hairs were here._' Makino thought as she wiped down the counter. '_And after today, it will only get more quiet._'

A young boy stepped out of the back room. "Morning, mom."

The mother of one (though she considered half a dozen teenagers surrogate children) smiled. "Good morning, Yusuke."

The green haired nine year-old huffed, sitting on the barstool across from his mother with a despondent expression.

She sighed, exasperated with the boy. "Yusuke, you've known Luffy was going to leave today for ages. Ace left on his 17th birthday, and Luffy will go a day without meat before he doesn't do the same."

That got a small chuckle out of Yusuke, "I know. But... I don't want him to leave!"

Makino giggled, "I know, son, I don't either. But his future lays out on the sea. Besides, he has a promise to keep; Shanks will want his hat back eventually."

Yusuke smiled at the thought of his father. He had never met the man, but the stories and smiles on Makino and Luffy's faces told him plenty about the man.

"Now," Makino checked the clock hanging on the opposite wall. "Luffy should be on his way down from Mt. Corvo. Shall we meet him at the docks?"

-Dadans hideout-

Luffy stood at the door to his 'home' for the last decade, a huge grin on his face. He wasn't overly tall, about 5'8'', and the elasticity of his body flattened out his muscles which gave illusion of being scrawny while he was actually built like a 'brick shit house'. He wouldn't be out of place doing gardening work with his flip-flops, baggy blue jean shorts, red vest and straw hat.

"I'm off, everyone!"

The bandits mostly waved, some cheering while others complained about losing the groups best hunter, and wished him well.

"You take care now," the eternally worried looking Magra said.

Dogra snickered, "Luffy? Take care?"

Luffy stuck his tongue at the chicken head, "I'm going on an adventure, Magra! Safe would just be boring." He looked at Dadan, "Hey, Dadan? You know I hate mountain bandits, but you guys are cool!"

She chuckled, "Higuma was a piece of shit." Snorting she mumbled, "Fifty kills to his name? Rookie."

Hoisting a large canvass bag onto his back, Luffy stepped through the door. "I'll be back."

Dadan shook her head, smiling. "You better, brat." But he was already gone.

Luffy ran through the woods for a minute before he stretched out his arms to grip a branch and launching himself to the top of the tallest tree. With one hand holding his straw hat to his head he glared at the distant Goa kingdom walls. "I'm off, Soba. I'm going to be free." With a a shout of joy, Luffy hopped from the tree and took of at an easy dash for Fusha village.

There seemed to be a breeze at his back, pushing him forward.

In no time at all he skidded to a stop outside the Party Bar. He stared at the colorful letters for a long moment before grinning his biggest grin yet. "Me and Nami are coming, Shanks. 'Emperor' is a cool title. But there's four of them." His grin narrowed, and any Haki sensitive person would feel the pressure of Haoshoku Haki filling the air. "There's only _one King._" Having said his piece, he started walking towards the docks.

He passed through town leisurely, greeting and exchanging farewells as he went. A few minutes later he arrived at the docks, and was surprised to see so many gathered to see him off; he'd only been expecting the Mayor, Makino, and Yusuke.

A middle aged fisherman stepped forward from the small crowd. "You sure about that boat, Luffy? You can take my old fishing boat..."

Eying the dinghy waiting for him, Luffy chuckled. "Don't worry, Sean. I'm meeting up with my Navigator in Orange town, where we will be getting an actual boat, I'm not sailing the seas in a dinghy! Though it would be fun, ishishishi."

Yusuke snorted, "Rowing, more like."

Luffy stretched his arm out to flick the boy's nose, "Wise ass."

"Yours and Ace's own fault, Luffy," Makino sighed. She loved her surrogate sons, really, but Yusuke definitely could've done without picking up some of their habits. Not that his older sisters, Nami and Nojiko, had been any better.

"Ishsishi," Luffy just laughed, tossing his sack onto the back of the dinghy next to a barrel of fresh water. He stared of into the horizon for a minute before something tugged at his shorts.

"A-are you really leaving, Luffy?"

Luffy smiled down at his little brother. "Yeah, I am. It's my turn." Leaning forward so only Yusuke could hear, he whispered. "And when I meet up with your dad, I'll kick his ass so bad he needs to visit East Blue for another 'vacation'."

Most of the town assumed Yusuke was Shanks's kid, but it was purposefully left unconfirmed so the townspeople could always deny knowing. A child of one of the Emperors here? In a peaceful village in sleepy East Blue? Marines and pirates alike would be on top of them for sure, hoping to have something on the great Red-Hair. A bartender in a port town that was a single mother? Even if the timelines did match up, that wasn't going to get anyone except the most eager of conspiracy theorists' attention.

Yusuke grinned, "That's be awesome!"

Luffy blinked as he was hugged from behind. "Take care, Luffy."

He turned to return the hug, "You too, Makino." Separating, Luffy patted his little brother's head. "Take care of your mom."

The boy nodded determinedly.

Without further ado Luffy hoped down into his boat and cried to the heaven's with arms raised. "Sabo! Ace! I'm leaving!"

And he was. Luffy was never one for long goodbyes, so with another wave and at his farewell party he started rowing. A mere five minutes out, an old friend burst from the water.

Luffy stood up confidently, grinning at the lone Sea King. "Let me show you how far I've come in these last ten years, Lord of the Coast."

The Sea King roared, racing in to swallow the rubber-man whole.

"Gomu gomu... Pistol!"

The Sea King was sent flying by the attack, landing with huge splash some twenty feet away.

"How was that? Damn fish," There was a rough edge to his voice. He had never forgiven the Sea King for eating Shanks' arm.

Settling his at back on his head, Luffy grinned excitedly. "To Orange village to meet with Nami and get our ship. Hopefully we find some more nakama to join before we hit Logue town. The most important... a cook and musician! Anything else is good too, heh," he snickered.

Checking the sun, Luffy sat down and grabbed the oars. "Gotta hurry, otherwise Nami will kick my ass, ishsishi."

-hours later-

A certain orange haired beauty smirked, eying the room full of treasure. Jewels, gold coins and cold hard beli filled multiple chests.

'_A nice little bonus I stumbled on here._' Nami giggled in her mind. She had only been on her way to Orange town to meet up with Luffy, her next heist far from her mind, when she had spotted a pirate ship on the horizon. Knowing the mark belonged to Alvida, an ugly bitch of a pirate with a matching attitude, Nami had tailed the ship at a safe distance waiting for her chance. When the ship began a raid on a haughty looking passenger ship, she knew she'd found it.

It had been nothing to hitch her small boat to the back of Alvida's ship, and the use of a grappling hook on to a open windowsill had given quick access. This had been her hobby for years now. Ever since Gen and Nojiko had stopped supplying her with a real challenge a few years back, she'd been sailing out to sea for weeks at a time perfecting her navigational skills. On her second trip she'd gotten into a fight with a no name bandit group. After kicking their asses, she'd gotten the location of their base. She'd raided the place for a cool 100,000 beli, and had been hooked ever since. The fighting, when she couldn't avoid it, was fun, and a good real test of the skills she would be trusting to keep her alive in her adventures with Luffy. But the real high were the successful heists. The high she got from knowing she'd had just robbed some assholes blind while they were completely unaware, the feeling of being able to get in and out of a guarded area with no one the wiser, and with whatever needed guarding; now that got her blood running.

Shanks may have saved her from a life of misery, but she will never forget how hard life had been for her family being poor, even before Arlong had arrived demanding outrageous 'life taxes'. She remembered that Bellemere would've still been alive when Shanks arrived if they had only had another 100,000 beli.

She was determined to never be put in such a situation again.

Quickly stuffing what she could into a canvas bag, Nami froze as a shiver ran down her back. Wide, disbelieving eyes looked up in shock. "No way, really?" Smirking, she shook her head and finished filling the bag. "He's here? Well, I can't let him have all the fun, now can I?"

-Up on deck-

Luffy grinned, "Heh, what's the point of having spikes on a mace if they're_ dull as all hell_?"

Everyone gaped at the teenager. How had a human being survived getting hit over the head with such a heavy, spiked mace?

"W'what are you?!"

Luffy grinned, preparing to happily declare exactly what he was but another voice spoke up.

"He's a a fun loving goof, with a knack for stirring up trouble. The man who has eaten the Gomu Gomu no Mi. The world's only rubber-man, and my Captain."

Everyone turned to face the voice to find a curvaceous teenage girl with orange hair and amber brown eyes. She wore a blue and white striped shirt, blue skirt and gladiator style sandals that gave her 5'9'' height a few inch boost. A wooden staff as tall as herself leaned against her right right, and a large bag was on the ground to her left.

Cobi stared at the orange haired bombshell in shock. His new friend knew such a beautiful woman?

Luffy just laughed, "Nami! What're you doing here?"

She shrugged, an unapologetic smile on her face. "Me? Stealing from some 5th rate pirates. They don't need any treasure, so why not?"

Realizing that her bag was full of their treasure, most of the Alvida pirates charged her. She just smirked, her nimble fingers spinning her bo-staff.

Alvida, sure that her men could handle the slip of a girl, raised her club for another swing.

Luffy shook his head, "Blunt attacks can't do jack, ugly." He eyed the wide spacing of spike on the club. "And even if those points _were_ sharp they aren't close enough to actually do much."

As if to prove his point he jumped up and rammed his fist into an open space on the spiked club, shattering the iron weapon into pieces. As he landed he spun around to land back kick into the obese woman's gut, causing her to fall to the ground gasping for air.

"Oi, Nami!"

The thief looked over her shoulder, standing amid the unconscious forms of half the Alvida pirate crew. "Yes, Luffy?"

"We're heading out," then he blinked, before pointing at the shocked looking boy behind him. "Oh, he's coming with, we're gonna take him to a marine base."

Shaking her head at her friend's whims, Nami nodded. "Sure, there's a base north of here that we should be able to reach in a few hours. And it's not like we're active pirates yet, so they shouldn't give us any grief." Picking up her bag she tossed it the the pink haired boy, who buckled under its weight but managed to stay on his feet. She then unscrewed her staff into five pieces she slipped into a a pouch strapped to her left thigh.

"Ishishi," Luffy laughed, eying the conscious Alvida pirates. "We're leaving, I suggest you don't give us any trouble."

The pirates all cowed, after seeing what the two teens were capable of they just wanted them of their boat.

-On Nami's boat-

Nami grinned as she and Coby sat across from each other on the deck of her ship.

"So, how'd you meet up with my thick headed Captain?"

With a depressed sigh Coby told Nami of his two year stint as Alvida's cabin boy, and it's embarrassing cause. Blushing furiously at her laughter about his plight, he explained how he had come to meet Luffy.

She shook her head amusedly, "That sounds like him."

Coby gaped at her, "Can't you be more concerned for your friend? He's a devil fruit user, aren't they all anchors?"

Nami grew slightly serious, "We're gonna be pirates, if I worried about something like being an anchor killing him I would never get any sleep."

"T-that's another thing!" Coby roared, pointing an accusatory finger at her. "Pirates? Becoming the next King of Pirates? Finding One Piece? Do you have any idea what you two are trying to do?"

Nami frowned at him, her eyes distant. "Far more than you do."

"Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible! Impossible!" The pink haired youth screamed repetitively. "Standing on top in this, the Great Pirate age? Impossible. Sailing the Grand Line and surviving till the end? You'll both die. It's imposs-" Before Coby could finish saying the word again, cracked him upside the head with her staff. Holding his aching noggin, Coby seemed torn between glaring or cowering.

Nami's eyes were dark, and her voice, which normally had a soft whine, was steely. "Listen here, Coby. He's going to be King. And I'm going to take him there, drawing a map of entirety of the Grand Line with my own hand along the way. If we die following our ambitions, we die." She looked ready to say something else, but another voice spoke first.

"If we die chasing our dreams, we won't die with regrets." Luffy sat down on Nami's right, his wide genuine belying the seriousness of his words. "Sandwich?"

Coby blinked, noticing a large platter of sandwiches being held out to him. "Oh, uh, sure…"

-Later that that day-

They were both absolutely crazy, Coby had discovered.

Luffy was obvious. Between his rubber body, appetite and antics it didn't take much for someone to peg him as trouble.

Nami was a bit more discreet about it. She was distractingly good looking and it was hard to imagine someone as intelligent as her being mixed up with someone as goofy as Luffy; yet despite her elegant appearance her amber brown eyes shown with a mischievousness every bit equal to her captain.

When he told them of the navy base they were going to's recent accomplishment, that of the capture of Roronoa Zoro, they had actually been excited! Not by his capture, but at the opportunity to meet him!

"I'm telling you, this is a horrible idea!" The haired boy told them, _again_, as he helped tie the small ship to an open spot at the island's public dock.

Nami sighed, "And why's that, again?"

Coby sputtered, "He's a hound of the seas, always looking for his next kill! A monster in the form of a man!"

Luffy tilted head to the side, reminding the boy of an owl with his wide unblinking eyes. "Rumors are pretty exaggerated most of the time, you know? If you haven't met someone how do you know if they aren't a good person?"

"You're too naive! He's been imprisoned because he's a bad person!"

Nami shook her head, gesturing for them to start walking into town. "That doesn't make any sense, he's a bounty hunter. No matter how violate, the marines wouldn't want want to get rid of a good bounty hunter."

Luffy just laughed, "Let's find a place to eat!"

Getting quick directions from a local, the group quickly found themselves in a restaurant called Food Foo.

Everything went smoothly for a while. Nami and Coby had a conversation about some recent events in the area and Luffy kept himself busy stuffing his face at a rate that drew unnerved looks from the other diners.

Than Luffy mentioned Zoro's name.

Everyone around their table leapt away from them, not seeming to care who or what they knocked over in their haste.

"See?" Coby hissed, "He's a monster! Even hearing his name scares these people."

The pair of pirates seemed thoughtful at that.

"So," Coby continued, hoping to come everyone in the rooms down; they were eying the three of them as if they carried the plague! "I hear the man in charge is a lieutenant by the name Morgan…"

He trailed off as the people around them, who had been slowly picking up their mess, bolted flat against the nearest wall with panic clear in their faces.

Luffy threw his head back in laughter, "Guess the lieutenant is a bad guy to!"

"I-impossible!"

Nami sighed, placing several bills on the table. "Let's just get out here before someone has a heart attack." She pointed at Luffy, "You can go with Coby to the base, see what you can find about our crew member candidate. I'm going to to find a hotel." With wave, the orange haired thief walked off.

Cob sweat dropped at the woman's command. "Aren't _you_ the captain, Luffy-san?"

"Ishishi, yeah, but Nami is my Navigator, and when I have a crew she'll be quartermaster."

Coby nodded; unlike the Navy absolute authority didn't always end with the captain, outside of combat a pirate captain would normally cede authority to their quartermaster.

Getting to the base was easy, it's high tower was noticeable and all they had to do was look up to find their way.

"What an ugly place," Luffy commented, staring at the sky camouflage paint job. "Ishishi, go ahead, Coby."

The younger boy hesitated, "B-but Im not prepared! Besides, after what happened in the restaurant…"

Luffy had already climbed the wall surrounding the base.

"A-ah, Luffy-san!"

"Monster?" The pirate muttered, looking over the area with a grin. "I wonder where he is?"

"You can't find him that easily!" Coby explained, "He's probably in a cell somewhere."

Luffy hopped off the wall at a run, "Well, I saw _someone_!"

Few seconds later Luffy was dangling off a different section of the wall, another wide mouthed expression on his face. "Take a look at _this_ guy."

Nervously Coby also scaled the wall and peered over the wall, almost immediately falling off in shock. "Th-that black bandana and waist cloth… That intimidating presence! It's him! It's Roronoa Zoro!"

Luffy's gaze had never wavered from sight of the man. He was few inches taller then Luffy, with tanned skin and cropped green hair with a black bandana tied around his head. His tight white shirt did nothing to hide his muscular physique. He wore dark green baggy trouser that tucked into black boots. His out of place green haramaki and the set of matching golden dangle earrings in his left lobe catching the eye.

He was also showed signs of being roughly handled by the marines; his exposed arms were discolored with bruises and dried blood.

Despite his condition Luffy sensed a great, almost unnerving sense of danger in the older man. "Hm, those ropes should be pretty easy to break…"

Coby, predictably, freaked. "You can't let him go, Luffy-san! I'm sure that he will kill you!"

"Ishishi, no problem. I'm strong." Luffy assured the boy, "Tough, I meant that they should be easy for _him_ to break."

The man lifted his head to meet his watchers' eyes, and his grin almost scared Coby back off the wall. "Hey! You guys are bothering me, get lost!" His voice carried without the need to shout.

Coby whimpered, "Luffy! If you recruit someone like him, it won't matter how many lives you have!"

He was ignored, Luffy looking behind the other boy at a young girl walked up to the wall with a ladder. The sound of the ladder clank against the wall cut Coby off before he could rant anymore and the pigtailed girl climbed up the wall, holding a finger to her lips to shush them. Looking around, she dropped a rope over the other side of the wall and slid down, clutching something to her chest as she scurried towards the tied up bounty hunter.

This, of course, freaked Coby out. "That's dangerous! Luffy-san, please stop her! She'll get killed!"

Luffy just watched, causing the other boy to weep for the girl's life.

"What? Zoro asked, confused by the girl's presence.

She smiled, "Aren't you hungry? I made some rice balls."

"You're gonna get killed, shorty." Zoro informed her patiently, "Go away."

"You haven't eaten anything yet, though." She said, unwrapping the bundle in her hand. "Her! This is my first time making rice balls… but I made them with all my heart!" She held out two rice balls to the marine's captive, smiling with all the innocence of childhood.

Zoro was taken aback. He was not nearly the evil person the rumors of the East Blue painted him as, but he was _not _a people person. Even people he saved normally didn't like him after they had gotten a taste of his abrasive personality. That this little girl would take such a risk for him caught him completely by surprise.

He frowned; it was bad enough that she was visiting him, but bringing him _food_? If the Morgan's were half as shitty as he thought they were, the kid was holding her damn death warrant!

"I'm not hungry! You're bothering me, hurry up and go home!" He spoke with some urgency, his keen hearing picking up the sound of a certain good for nothing son and a couple guards approaching.

The girl looked heart broken, "But…" Her shoulders dropped.

"I don't want any!" His voice raised, "Scram! Don't make me hurt you!"

She looked ready to tear up, but she didn't move.

He took a breath, preparing to ask the two on the wall to get her out, but the entrance gate to the execution grounds rattled open.

"You shouldn't be bullying kids." A nasal, whining voice spoke. A group men were walking towards the two, two marines flanks what was best described as a blond ponce. The ponce spoke again, "Looks like you're still energetic, Roronoa Zoro."

"A weird guy appears," Luffy commented.

Coby sighed in relief, "The marines. I'm sure the girl will be safe now."

The ponce, who had one serious cleft chin, leered at the rice balls. "Hey, that onigiri looks pretty good." He swiped one of the two ball straight from her hands, and popped the whole thing into his mouth.

A second later he coughed it all over the ground. "Nasty!" He yelled, veins popping and shaking a fist at the girl. "It's full of sugar! Onigiri needs salt! Salt!"

The girl sniffed, still holding up the other rice ball. "But I thought it would taste better sweet."

He smacked the last onigiri out of hands, stomping it under his shoe. "Take that!"

"Stop!" She pleaded, falling to her knees and waving her arms.

"What a horrible thing," Coby mumbled, shocked at the other teen's actions.

Luffy just watched with a blank expression.

The ponce, after grinding the ball into the dirt with his heel for good measure, finally stopped.

The girl stared, tears pooling in her eyes. "I tried to make it with all my heart."

Zoro just kept silent, staring murderously at the man, and at the two marines standing behind him who did nothing.

Even if he _was_ a criminal, there was no excuse to treat a six year-old like this.

The blonde sighed, as if under some great labor. "Didn't you see any of the notices? Anyone caught helping this criminal will be executed."

That froze the little girl.

Grinning, he continued. "Brat, you know who my father is, right? I'm Helmeppo Morgan, the captain's only son!"

Coby was horrified, "This is Captain Morgan's son?"

Helmeppo jabbed a thumb over his shoulder at one of his marine escort. "You. Throw her over the wall."

When the marine only stared at him shock at the command, Helmeppo grabbed him by the collar. "I said toss her outside! Are you disobeying my orders? I'll tell my father."

"Yes, sir. Right away!" The sailor stepped in front of the girl, picking the scared little girl up with ease. "Sorry for this," he muttered so only she could hear him. With an impressive heave, he sent the girl screaming over the wall.

Fortunately she sailed right over Luffy's head, and he easily jumped to catch her and break her fall using his body.

The girl smiled as they sat up, "Thank you!"

Luffy reached for his hat, dusting it off before putting it back on. "Ishishi, no problem."

"Are you both alright?" Coby asked, running up to them.

As Coby worried over the girl, Luffy stared in the direction of the base with a far off look.

Back in the execution field, Helmeppo was pacing in front of his prisoner laughing.

"Bastard," Zoro hissed.

Helmeppo probably missed the insult, "It seems your pretty stubborn, being alive still."

"Yeah," Zoro replied casually. "I'm going to survive the whole month."

"Well, do your best." Helmeppo laughed, walking away with his two guards.

"10 more days," Zoro reminded the retreating man.

"Only if you live that long."

Zoro was left alone to his thought for a moment, then he noticed one of the guys who'd watched all of that, the one with the straw hat casually stood in front of him with his hands in his pockets. "So _you're_ the bad guy, huh?"

"You still here?"

"Being humiliated like this… Are you really strong?"

"Mind your own business," Zoro snapped.

Luffy made a curious sound, then started walking closer. "I would've escaped in three days."

Zoro grinned, "I'm different from you. I will survive to show them. Definitely."

"What a stubborn guy," Luffy chuckled. So his pride was why he hadn't escaped his loose binds already? With a wave, he turned to leave.

"Wait a sec!" Zoro stopped him, "Can you give me that?" he was looking at the trampled rice ball.

"You really going to eat this?" Luffy asked, picking it up. "It's more of a dirt ball now…"

'_So much for his pride and desire to survive that idiot son's stupid challenge._' Luffy thought, a bit disappointed; he had kinda respected the man's drive.

Zoro glowered, "Shut up and give it to me!"

With a shrug Luffy fed the green haired man, then stood back with arms crossed.

It took a full minute, but he did eventually swallow the whole thing.

"I told you-"

"It was delicious," Zoro cut him off. "Thank you for the food."

Blinking, a slow smile spread across Luffy's face as he understood. Without another word, he turned and left.

-Back at Food Foo-

"Wow," was all Nami could say after being told what happened with Zoro.

Rika, as they had learned the girl to be called, smiled. "Really, he ate it all?"

Luffy nodded, his perpetual grin wide.

Coby seemed somewhere else, though. "Is… he really the kind of person the rumors say he is?"

Nami shook her head, "No, at least not in this case. He saved Rika here from Captain Morgan's son's pet wolf, which he had let run wild around town."

Rika nodded, "that's what happened. How'd you know, big sis?"

The orangette grinned at the title. "Just asked around. I'm good with that sort of thing."

Rika huffed, "The only bad guys are the Morgans. They execute anyone who disobey them, so…"

"The island lives in fear." Nami finished quietly.

Despite her brave face, then and now, she'd had many nightmares what life in Cocoyashi had Shanks (and Luffy) not arrived that day. The fear of living under threat of death was a common theme.

Luffy laid a hand over top her own, and when she looked up he wasn't wearing his normal ear to ear smile. It was a small, confident smile that sent thrills racing along her spine; a smile he only shared with her; a smile that had been her light since Bellemere was killed.

'_What a pair we make,_' she thought. '_I'm his navigator, yet he's my north star._'

Luffy always stirred an odd mix of emotion in Nami. He was her best friend, a connection to the man who had saved her island, and through him she had gained an extended family. He was the only boy that had ever made her heart skip a beat.

The only _boy_ being the tipping point in her emotions. She had been attracted to a few people in her life, but while she could appreciate what other girls found desirable in men Luffy was the only guy she'd been drawn to, and she wasn't sure if she actually liked him that way.

She just wasn't sure where the line between best friend, whom happened to be a attractive young man, and something… more, was. How could she? Most girls her age were puzzling out the same question, but under much less stress! She was going to spend her life on the same ship as him! And then there was the desires Luffy simply couldn't help her with.

She was a greedy person at heart, so she chose the route that gained her the most. She had her life to figure Luffy out.

Her 'family' knew about her liking girls; she'd made no secret of it, and had even had a couple girlfriends. Gen and Makino had just nodded, telling her neither had any problem with how she chose to live _her_ life. Ace had laughed, "Of course you like woman! Tits are awesome!" Nojiko, after whacking the freckled teenager with a mikan branch, had grinned, "You're my baby sister, no matter what."

Luffy had been silent for a long moment, the still too large strawhat covering the 14 year-olds eyes. Then he'd laughed, saying he liked girls, too. Nami had noticed a far off look in his eyes, but she knew his smile was genuine so she had hugged her best friend, than took him to meet her first girlfriend.

Makino was the only one she had ever confided in about her feelings towards Luffy. The woman's smile had shown, for a brief moment, why a Yonkou might fall in love with a simple bartender from a small village. "You're gonna be a pirate. You don't have to follow any rules other than than the rules of your ship and your own values."

A loud, high pitch laugh snapped Nami from her though and pulled everyone's attention to an open window.

Helmeppo was strolling down the main street, his two guards at his side. "That's right, bow, unless you want to end up like Roronoa Zoro! I'm going to have him executed in three days as an example to all of you!"

"Three days?" Rika repeated,

Coby gaped, "B-but it's only been nine!"

Fingers twitching to assemble her staff, Nami sneered. "Guess we shouldn't be surprised."

Luffy calmly exited the restaurant, and walked straight up to the blond ponce, which freaked out the prostrated townspeople lining the road. "Didn't you say you we're challenging him to survive a month?"

He made a face, "Hehe. I was only kidding about that! Only and idiot would believe that!"

Only Nami knew Luffy well enough to know what was bound to happen next, and she quickly pulled the pieces of her staff from her leg holster, assembling it was she hurried to join her captain.

Without a word Luffy sent Helmeppo flying with a single punch.

Coby was suddenly latched onto him from behind, "Don't do this, Luffy-san! Do you want the whole base after you?"

"I doubt there's anyone who'd actually be much of a fight," Nami shrugged, standing on their right with her staff spinning in one hand.

"I'm marine Lieutenant Morgan's son! I'm telling him about this!"

Luffy glowered, "Fight me yourself."

"Luffy-san, don't do this!" Coby pleaded, using all his strength to try to affect the rubber man.

The two marines had picked the spoiled teenager off the ground, and started walking him back to the base. "You'll regret hitting me!" Helmeppo shouted in retreat, "You'll get the death sentence for this! My dad will execute you himself!"

Nami sighed, "It's worthless to hit people like him, Luffy."

Luffy shrugged Coby off his back, accepting his hat back from Rika-it had fallen off when he'd moved to punch Helmeppo. "Still made me feel a bit better."

The navigator nodded, "As a marine's daughter, I'm taking this personally. I call getting to knock him out if we get another chance."

Rika had ran out as soon the marines were gone. "You were so cool, onii-chan!"

Luffy grinned, "Really? I should have hit him a couple more times!"

"Rika!" The girl's mother, and owner of Food Foo, darted from her restaurant. "Get away from them! You might get executed too if you're seen with them!"

"But mom," the six year old whined as her mother steered her back inside. "They're good people!"

Luffy and Nami waved farewell to the girl. "Well, going by that the hotel probably won't let us stay the night."

Nodding, Luffy started walking. "Probably. Let's get Zoro and get out here."

-The marine execution grounds-

It was probably no more than half an hour till the sunset as Luffy and Nami jumped the wall.

"You again?" Zoro asked, eying the straw hat wearing boy. "I see you brought better company than last time." He wasn't lying, the orange haired woman was far superior company than the loud pink haired boy from before.

With a pleased smile, the black haired man made introductions. "I'm Luffy. This is Nami; my navigator, and quartermaster. Nami, this is Roronoa Zoro." Then he pointed at the ropes trying the swordsman to the post. "If I loosen those up, you'll be joining my pirate crew."

Zoro frowned at the younger man, "I have my own goals, and they don't involve joining a pirate crew!"

Luffy raised an eyebrow, "Why not? As captain, I aim to let everyone pursue their own dreams and desires. And it's not like it can hurt your reputation."

"I don't care what they say about me!" Zoro's face was deadly serious. "I haven't done a single thing that I've regretted, nor will I!"

He didn't understand why, but this brought almost eager smiles to both pirates' faces.

Nami spoke up, "You're a swordsman, right?"

Zoro nodded, "Yes. Santoryu. Other than my life, my katana are my greatest treasures."

The thief grinned mischievously. "How about this, then? I steal your swords back, and you join with us. If you want them back."

"That's dirty!" Zoro roared,

Luffy just laughed, "Normal plan, Nami?"

She nodded, "Yeah, you run distraction while I sneak around." She pointed at Zoro, "And you can wait for right here."

The prisoner could only stare as the pair ran off, "They're going to sneak into the base?"

At the base of the multi storied base, the two high fiver before splitting up; Nami heading for the door and Luffy looking up. This was an old tactic of theirs, but it was the first time it was being used on such a scale. Eying the ledge of the tall building, he rocked backward like pitcher about to uncork a fast ball. "Let's cause a distraction!"

"Gum Gum," Stepping forward, he shot his rubber arm arm like a grappling hook, and after he'd grabbed ahold the edge of the roof he allowed his arm to slingshot him upwards with great speed. "Rocket!"

He laughed, realizing his mistake as he shot pass the roof and kept going. "Oops, too fast!" Spinning in the air he reached for the nearest thing he could grab. Pulling on the ropes several marines were using hoist a statue he directed his descent to the roof top.

This had the unintended side effect of the marines losing control of the giant statue, and fell to the ground, splitting in half with top half, depicting an axe handed man raising his arms in victory, falling off the roof entirely.

The marines could only watch in shock as all this unfolded before their very eyes.

Luffy chuckled at the sound of the statue hitting the ground below. "Hehe, oops?"

The man the statue had clearly been molded after bellowed. "Capture him! I'm going to kill him!"

As the marines scrambled to react, Helmeppo pointed. "Dad, that's him! He's the one that hit me! I told you he was no good!"

Luffy grinned, "Hey, idiot son!" He grabbed the blonde, "You're coming with me." So saying, he ran for the the satir case heading into the base, hostage in tow.

In all the confusion, a single marine had chanced a look at the execution grounds. "Lieutenant! There's someone talking to Zoro!"

"More traitors?" Morgan was breathing heavy in anger. "Kill them all!"

-With Zoro-

"What? They went in to the base? Those hot heads..." Coby didn't even know why he was surprised anymore, the pirate duo's daring knew no bounds as far he could cell!

Zoro snorted, "No kidding. Just who are they?" The swordsman blinked as the boy moved to untie his bindings. "Oi, helping me out will get you killed, kid."

"You shouldn't even be here! I can't stand these marines!" Coby's face set with the most determined look of his life. "I'm going to be a great marine! I'll match Luffy-san's drive to be the Pirate King."

Zoro jerked at that, "What! Pirate King? You're joking, right?"

The one time cabin boy chuckled weakly, "Hhehe… I was shocked the first time he said it. But he's serious!"

"The girl, does she know about that?"

Coby nodded, "I don't think there's a single thing they don't know about each other! She say's she wants to draw a map of the _entire _Grand Line from her own experiences."

Anything else was cut off as a gunshot rang through the air, a bullet penetrating Coby's shoulder and knocking him down. Zoro craned his neck to look up at the base's roof, his expression bloodthirsty.

-Back inside the base-

Luffy laughed as he ran through the base, punching out marines as he went.

"Please stop… Let me go…" Helmeppo begged, bumped and bruised from being dragged by one hand of the pirate.

"Where's Zoro's katana?"

"My room! We passed it a minute ago!"

With a snort Luffy about faced and charged the marine's behind him, using Helmeppo as a human shield as he barreled past.

"There!" Helmeppo pointed at a partially open door. "That's my rooms, the katana are in there!"

-Execution grounds-

"Oi, you alive kid?" The man sighed as the boy started to move again. "Run for your life, they're almost here!"

"No, I…" Coby was struggling to stand, a hand pressed to his bleeding shoulder. "I've got to free you now!"

Zoro ground his teeth, "Damnit! I'm free to go after a month! Just hurry and le-"

"They will not set you free!" Coby yelled, "They're gonna kill you in three days! Probably sooner now that Luffy and Nami have caused such trouble."

"That bastard!"

Grimacing in pain, the boy managed to push himself up. "Luffy and Nami are strong. If you team up with them, you'll definitely be able to escape!"

It seemed too late for either of them, however, as a dozen marine chose that moment to run into the execution ground, and set up a firing line.

-Back in the base-

Nami smirked as Luffy busted into the room, Helmeppo's unconscious body getting unceremoniously dropped on the ground. "Too slow, Luffy. I've already got the swords."

The teenager pouted, "Meh, you didn't get chased around by the whole base to do it."

Nami had just finished tying Zoro's katana to her back. Being a mature young woman, the orange haired girl stuck her tongue at her friend.

Noticing a commotion outside they walked over to the window over looking the execution grounds. He grinned, "Hop on, Nami."

She grinned back, knowing what her friend had planned.

-Zoro and Coby-

'_Damn it,_' Zoro cursed, thinking of his promise to Kuina. '_I can't die yet! I still have a promise to keep!_'

Morgan ordered his men, "Fire!"

As the marines squeezed their triggers Luffy, with Nami piggy backing along, crashed in front of Zoro and Coby.

To Zoro and Coby's shock Luffy stood there as he took every bullet meant for them.

And laughed!

"Isishi! Bullets don't work on me!" The raven haired boy laughed, his rubber body rebounding the bullets back where they had come from.

Zoro gaped, "What kind of human are you?!"

Coby had fallen to the ground, unconscious and foaming at the mouth.

With a smirk Nami hopped off her friend's back, untying the swords from her back. "He's the man who'll be Pirate King."

Luffy grinned as his navigator started untying the ropes tying Zoro to the post. "Resisting the marines with me will mark you as an outlaw. Or do you want to die here?"

The returning thin, bloodied grin was almost enough to cause Nami to step back from the swordsman. Almost.

"Are you the offspring of the devil?" Zoro noticed the pair flinch at the question, but chose not to worry about it. "Forget it. Rather than dying here, I'll accede to your request… And become a pirate!"

Meanwhile the marines were freaking out that a human being had survived multiple gunshots.

"That rascal isn't normal," Morgan growled. "He must have eaten of the 'Devil fruits'!"

Knowing the logic behind the man's survival seemed to do little for the men's morale, "One of the devil's treasure's!"

One marine took notice of what exactly the group was up to, "H-hey! They're freeing Zoro!"

That got the marines to focus, "If bullets don't work, try the swords!" Strategy devised, the men unsheathed their swords and rushed the criminals.

Coby was finally coming around. Rubbing his head, the woozy boy blinked as he took in the scene. Nami was untying Zoro, possibly the most terrifying man he had ever met, and Luffy was laughing at a large group of marines charging them with drawn swords.

"W-what!"

Zoro, newly freed from his post, calmly rolled his neck before drawing his swords from the sheaths resting in Luffy's hands. Not one of the three seemed concerned with the onrushing marines. Suddenly the marines froze, and it took a moment for Coby to realize Zoro was suddenly crouching in front of them, his two black wrapped katana in either hand, while the white was grasped between his teeth.

"The first of you to move," Some how his voice was clear around the grip between his teeth. "Is the first one who dies."

Unknowingly Coby had same thought as every marine there. '_Terrifying!_'

Zoro locked eyes with Luffy, "As promised, I'll join your crew. After all this bullshit, I'll have a bounty on my head either way. That's fine. But I will not be abandoning my own ambition! I'm going to be the greatest swordsman the world has ever seen! I don't care if I'm label a good guy or a bad guy; as long as the world knows my name! If you get in the way of my goal, I'll have you commit seppuku to apologize!"

Luffy's chuckled with a grin, "Good! Being the world's number one swordsman is a goal worthy of someone in the Pirate King's crew. If you couldn't accomplish that much, I would be embarrassed!"

Zoro couldn't help but be impressed by the younger teenager. "Heh, well said."

Morgan had lost his patience, "What are you guys standing around for? Hurry up and kill those two!"

"Zoro!" Luffy raised his leg, "Duck!"

The swordsman automatically squatted down, a moment later Luffy kicked his leg out. "Gomu gomu muchi!" Even though he was a a good twenty feet from the marines, the rubber-man's body had no problem stretching out and knocking every single marine away from his new crew member.

"What are you…?"

The black haired pirated laughed as his leg snapped back to normal, "I'm a rubber-man. I ate the gomu gomu no mi."

"So, you're an anchor then, good to know." Luffy was the first fruit user he'd actually met, but he knew the basics.

Meanwhile the marines had been whining to Morgan about not being able to fight against the fearsome Zoro _and_ a rubber-man!

Morgan growled, "This is an order. Whoever was just whining… get a gun and shoot yourself! I don't need useless soldiers."

A few of the marines actually picked up their guns!

Zoro made to move to stop the idiots, but Luffy held up a hand.

"That's it," a woman's cold voice spoke, and everyone's startled (except Luffy) eyes focused on the orange haired woman that was stalking towards the lieutenant. "These men are useless alright, since they can't seem to stand up to such a weak commanding officer." Her eyes met each marine's eyes in turn, not needing to look as she deftly assembled her staff. "I am the daughter of an ex-marine, and she'd be disgusted with the lot of you! How long as he been terrorizing this town? He clearly has no problem killing you guys either! Are you all so gutless that known of you tried to file a complaint with the captain in charge of the area?"

Coming to a stop in front of Morgan, she spat on the much taller man's feet. "Execute me, if you can."

"Gladly!" Morgan yelled, swiping at the lithe teenager with his axe hand.

Nami jumped, actually landing on that very weapon. "Too slow," she smacked him across the face with her staff, sending him rolling away. "Someone as weak as you is a lieutenant?" She asked as she dropped softly back to the ground.

Morgan roared, throwing off his navy jacket and rushing the teenager. "I'm Lieutenant Axe-Hand Morgan! The man that brought down 'Thousand-Plan' Kuro! People like you, with no status have no right to oppose me!"

Nami snorted, '_I can't speak for Zoro or Cobi, but Luffy and I both have way more status than an East Blue Lieutenant._' Out loud she simply introduced herself. "I'm Nami, pirate navigator."

Zoro couldn't help but be impressed as Nami easily handled the much larger marine. He hadn't met many female fighters since Kuina, but he had a feeling his childhood friend would have enjoyed watching shapely woman beat the stuffing out of the muscle head.

Coby was simply amazed, how did someone as unimposing as Nami dominate someone like Morgan so completely?

Luffy just watched, unblinking.

After only a minute Nami stood over her beaten opponent. She looked down at the man as if he were a bug underfoot. "Some great marine you were." She raised her staff, preparing to deliver the knockout.

A familiar, high pitched voice called out, "Stop!"

Nami didn't even hesitate as she brought her staff across the lieutenant's face.

Helmeppo was scared, "I said stop, damn you!"

No one had noticed the blond ponce enter the execution grounds, and he had taken the opportunity to take a hostage.

"If you want this guy to survive, then don't move! Move and I blow his brains out!" He stood next to Coby, a pistol aimed at the other boy's head.

The marine forces, seeing their chance, circled Nami who simply smirked as she raised her staff in a defensive pose.

"Luffy! Nami!" Coby yelled, a determined look on his face. "I don't wanna be in your way… I am not afraid of death!"

Luffy smiled, "I know." He rolled his shoulder, cocking his right arm behind him. "Oi, worthless son! Coby isn't afraid of death!"

Helmeppo sputtered, reminding Luffy that he had a gun aimed at his friend's head.

"Luffy, behind you!"

Morgan had stumbled up behind the teenager, while Nami was busy with the other marines, his axe hand raised high. "I am… The great Axe-hand Morgan!"

"Do it, daddy!"

Luffy threw his arm forward, punching Helmeppo in the jaw and knocking him out before the other teenager had a chance to squeeze down on his pistol's trigger. "Nice," Luffy didn't even try to react as Morgan brought his axe down in an attempt to cleave him in two.

It turned out, there was no need for him to defend himself. Zoro was suddenly in-between the two, and Morgan fell to the ground, bleeding profusely.

"Zoro," Luffy commented, his grin never wavering.

The swordsman smirked around the white wrapped katana in his mouth. "No problem, Captain."

Nami joined her two cremates, the marines in an unconscious pile behind her. "Well, that was a fun evening, shall we get dinner and a night's sleep?"

Coby knew he wanted to be a marine, but seeing the three standing there in the last rays of the setting sun caused him a bit of envy. There was an easy camaraderie and power between them that the boy wanted for himself. The easy laughter at the marines' reactions to the Morgans' defeat, the exasperated smile Luffy and Nami shared when Zoro finally collapsed from hunger and exhaustion.

'_One day,_' he thought to himself as he followed the crew of three, Zoro carried in-between the other two, back to Food Foo. '_I'm going to be a match for them._'

Rika and her mother met them at the door to Food Foo, a wide smile on the girl's face. "Onii-sans! Onee-san!"

Her mother invited them to her house, to allow Zoro to use the shower and to escape the crowd of awed villagers that we're following them.

Zoro looked much more human after being allowed to shower and in a fresh set of clothes (Rika and her mother had held onto canvas sack that he'd carried such things in for him) and his bandana now tied around his upper left arm. The eye catching green hair and serious face were still offsetting, but not nearly as much.

The swordsman laughed, leaning back in his chair. "I'm full! Going 9 days without food was rough."

Nami giggled, a soft soft sound that Coby couldn't believe came from the same woman who had handled those marines so handily. "Surviving the whole month would have been hard, then."

Zoro nodded, lifting an eyebrow at their captain. "What's with this guy? He's eaten even more than me!"

"Don't mind him, a rubber stomach can hold a lot of food." She answered, washing her own modest meal own with a swig of beer. "Who ever we recruit to be our cook will have their work cut out, that's for sure."

"So," Zoro gulped down another glass of water. "What are your immediate plans?"

"We're heading for the Grand Line."

"What!" Coby yelled, "You're saying such ludicrous things again! Three people? How can you enter the Grand Line like that? Don't you understand? The world's greatest pirates all gather there!"

Zoro leaned for forward, resting an elbow on the table. "If Luffy wants to become King, it won't hurt to head in the direction!"

"Zoro, even you're saying this nonsense?"

The swordsman leaned back, "What are you so worried about? You're staying here."

"Can't I worry about you guys, anyway?" The pink haired boy asked, "We haven't known each other long, but we're friends aren't we?"

Luffy chuckled, "Of course we're friends, Coby."

"Friends… I never had friends growing up. But you guys taught me to love chasing my dream."

"That's why we're heading to the Grand Line, Coby." Nami pointed out with a soft smile. "To chase our dreams."

"Besides," Zoro cut in before Coby could work himself up again. "You should be worrying about yourself! You may have only been a cabin boy, but the marines have pretty stringent rules about allowing anyone with ties to pirates to enlist."

"Hypocrites," Nami muttered, thinking of the Shichibukai.

As if on cue, there was a knock on the door, and a serious looking marine entered the house. "Excuse me, but is it true that you are pirates."

Luffy nodded, "Yes. We're only a three person crew, and we only have a small boat and haven't made our flag, but we are a crew."

The man sighed, his marine cap shading his eyes. "That may be true… but you saved this town and base. We can't express how grateful we are but…"

"But as marines, you can't exactly allow declared pirates to stay in town." Nami finished with a huff. "Ungrateful bastards…" She muttered grumpily, even as she and her crew mates stood from the table.

Outside, the townspeople were crying out against the unfair treatment of their heros.

Luffy grinned at Rika and her mother. "We're off, thanks for the food."

The mother waved it off nervously, "The least we could do."

Nami ruffled Rika's hair on her way by, "Keep up the cooking, it was great Rika."

Zoro gave the little girl a small bow. "Thank you again for the rice balls, they were the greatest thing I've eaten in a long time."

With their pieces said, the three pirates started for the door.

"Isn't this one with you?" The marine stopped them, pointing at the nervous looking boy still in room.

Luffy shook his head, "Like I said, we're a crew of only three." He pointed at himself, "Captain." Then at Nami, "Navigator/quartermaster." Zoro, "ABS."

The goateed marine mulled this over, "Hn, very well."

And so the three pirates left, following the street lights back to the dock.

After a minute had passed in slightly awkward silence, the captain motioned for him and his men to head back to base.

"Wait!"

The captain paused, turning to meet Coby's eyes, "Yes?"

'_Now or never,_' Coby thought to himself. "Allow me to enlist!"

One of the other marine's stepped forward, "Sir, without a proper background check…"

Coby wouldn't listen to another word. "I AM A MAN WHOSE DREAM IS TO BECOME A MARINE!"

The captain adjusted his cap as he turned back to the door. "We know of your past on Alvida's ship. But, I shall sign off those concerns."

"Sir, thank you sir!"

-Down at the docks-

"You sure that was enough" Zoro asked as he and Luffy undid the ropes holding the small boat.

Luffy shrugged, "They owe us enough to overlook Coby having been a cabin boy."

Nami almost ground her teeth, "Let's go before one of those idiot marines try to apprehend us on their own."

Zoro quirked an angular eyebrow, "What's with her?"

"Her mom was a marine," Luffy filled in. "Weak or corrupt marines really piss her off."

The green haired man nodded as settled in against side of the boat.

Just as the were about to push off, a voice called out. "Luffy-san!" The three turned to see Cody huffing a dozen feet away. When all three pirate were looking his way, the marine enlistee snapped a salute their way. "Thank you for everything! I will never forget the three of you!"

An amused smile crossed Zoro's face. "A marine saluting a pirate," he laughed, "That's a first."

Nami smiled too, "We'll meet again someday, Coby."

"Damn straight," a grinning Luffy agreed as they pushed off.

Suddenly, the three dozen men of the Navy base were standing behind Coby. "Group salute!" The goateed captain commanded.

So it was that three laughing rookie pirates sailed off into the night.

**A/N**

**So, yeah. I churned this out much faster than I expected. I didn't realize just how big this arc was, hahaha. I actually finished this a couple days ago, but I rewrote the section about Nami's sexuality like a dozen times before settling on this one.**

**Look, I'm a straight, white male from California. I've never dealt with a lot of discrimination issues, so I have no personal experiences to draw on when writing such things. In my defense, the only real take we have on how such things are viewed in OP is Sanji and his aversion to transvestites. And I'm sure he'd be fine with the idea of lesbians. So… yeah, I'm not particularly happy with how it turned out, but there it is.**

**-Ace's reaction to Nami 'coming out'; I'm going with that he's closer to the rude and upfront attitude we saw in the Grey Terminal then the cool, polite older Ace that we first met in Alabasta at the time Nami 'came out'**

**-ABS; it means 'able bodied sailor'. He was listing roles on the ship, rather than in combat, which is why Luffy didn't list Zoro as 'swordsman'**

**-For those who may want me to hurry up my deviation from the canon; it's coming, slowly. The Buggy arc will be pretty different, while the Ussop recruitment will play out mostly similar (with a few plot twists thrown in). The Beratie arc will be slaughterfest, unless I come up with a reason for the crew to split up like they did in canon.**

**Vote for those crewmates and pairings, people!**

**UPDATED, 1/20/14**

**I've gotten some constructive criticism that I've taken into a account.**

**The main thing, is of course Nami. Shijiro and .King both noted that it felt like a forced plot device to implement a harem. In away, yes it is. But it seems it was taken more forcefully than I anticipated. I never said that she wasn't actually bi. I jut said that she'd informed her friends and family that she liked girls, and had a couple girlfriends. And that Luffy was the only guy she'd been interested up until now. I didn't say anywhere that she wasn't at least appreciative of other men. It helps that my favorite pairing for Nami after Luffy/Nami is Nami/Vivi, so I have her swinging both ways in the stories I read even when it's **_not _**a harem situation**

**I hope I made that more clear in the revised version of that scene.**

**Shijiro also pointed out a few information missteps on my part, which have been adjusted.**

**Alright, back to working on Chapter Three; The Circus is in Town!**


	3. The Circus is in Town

Zoro raised an eyebrow as he entered the boats small kitchenette, the smell of bacon pervading his senses. "Hm, I must have joined a good crew. Bacon."

Nami, who stood at the small oven, laughed. "How did you sleep, Zoro?"

He shrugged as he took a seat at the table. "I can sleep just about anywhere, really. That's why I didn't fuss at all about the lack of space."

"Sorry," Nami said as she flipped a couple pancakes. "This is just an in-between. We're enroute to Orange town to pick up an actual ship."

The swordsman blinked, "How'd you swing that? Orange town is one of the better shipyards in East Blue."

She grinned over her shoulder at him. "I've been stealing from pirates and bandits for the last couple years. Saved up plenty for a decent caravelle."

The green haired man blinked, the navigator was wearing a tanktop showed off a tattoo he hadn't seen the day before; a Jolly Roger wearing a straw hat. He smirked, "I thought we were just three pirates, a small ship and no mark?"

Nami giggled, "Oh, this?" She playfully flexed to show off the tattoo, the the sinewy muscles showing that she didn't mind working out a bit. "Well, it's not a mark _I've_ ever seen on a sail before, have you?"

Zoro chuckled, "Nope. Never even heard of it before." He eyed the bed in the small rooms corner. "I was expecting him to be up as soon he smelt food, from the way he was at dinner last night."

"Meh," Luffy groused from the bed, clearly awake. "Nami doesn't like it when I snitch while she's cooking."

They spent breakfast talking about whatever came to mind, the conversation flowing smoothly between the three of them.

Zoro was surprised by how… easy this felt. Other then a pair of bounty hunters he'd met a year or two back, he hadn't met anyone he'd really gotten along with since he'd left the dojo. If he didn't rub someone the wrong way, they normally rubbed _him _the wrong way. He'd have to wait and see… but so far he was getting along with his two crew mates far better then he had expected.

After dutifully helping with the dishes, he set out to do some katas and then nap until they reached Orange town.

-Meanwhile, in Orange town-

"Gyahahahaha," Buggy the Clown laughed as he and his men headed for Orange town's tavern, the townspeople having ran for it at the sight of his flag sailing into harbor.

His crew's top swordsman, Cabaji rolled up beside him. "We should have a day or two to party it up before they cane get word to the marines."

The Clown pirate laughed, "Don't forget that the nearest base seems to have it's own flashy issues, Cabaji. We'll be having a flashy time all week!"

The Buggy pirates laughed as they flooded into town.

-Several hours later, Orange town docks-

Zoro cracked open a single eye to look up at the orange hair navigator standing above him. "Yes?"

"We've arrived, Zoro." She wasn't looking at him, however.

He turned so he could see what held her attention, it was a large ship with a clear circus theme.

"I don't recognize the mark." Zoro commented idly.

She shook her head, "Weren't a bounty hunter?"

He shrugged as he stood, placing his three katana at his hip. "Most of them just had the bad chance to meet me, I didn't actively hunt most of them."

"Bad chance, huh?" Nami smirked, "Well, that's the Big Top, the ship of Buggy the Clown."

"The ship certainly seems to be fit for him, then." The swordsman looked around, "Where's Luffy?"

"Ran off into town, figured I'd let you know what was going on before I did the same." So saying, she stepped off the boat and onto the pier. "They don't seemed to have left anyone on their ship, so I'm going to give it a once over." Her meaning couldn't be any clearer to Zoro if she'd had belli signs for eyes. "What're you going to do?"

With another shrug, Zoro stepped towards town. "What's the policy if I run into any circus actors?"

Nami laughed, "We may be pirates, but we've got nothing against Orange town, besides I'd bet Luffy will get into a fight with them before you do."

Zoro grinned as he headed into town; challenge accepted!

-With Luffy-

The straw hat wearing pirate aimlessly strolled through the deserted town humming an old pirate song. He'd ran off looking for a fight, but his enthusiasm dried up quickly when he hadn't found a single person.

He also kinda needed some space from Nami. She was his bestfriend, but it was going to take some getting used to seeing that tattoo of hers! He had never seen it before, meaning she'd gotten it sometime in the last couple weeks, but the image of his Jolly Roger on her skin…

He felt… excited, though he thought that wasn't quiet the right word.

So he'd ran off looking to pick a fight. He'd long since learned that fighting could get his mind off almost anything. Besides, they'd probably have to kick Buggy's ass to get their ship anyway.

"Boring," the teen whined as he turned a corner to find an odd sight. An old man wearing a few pieces of armor over plad colored clothes was arguing with a white dog.

"Damnit, Chuchou! The buggy pirates are infamously cruel! They'll have no problem killing a dog! Come with me to safety!"

The dog, it seemed, was resolute to stay on guard in front of the building behind it.

Luffy smiled, and quickly walked forward to scratch the dog behind the ears.

"W-who are you!" The old man exclaimed, jumping back in surprise at the sudden arrival of the raven haired man.

"I'm Luffy," he replied, still scratching the dog behind the ears.

The name seemed familiar to the old mayor, but worry for the teen took precedence, "I don't know what you're doing here, but the town's been invaded by the Buggy pirates! Most of the town escaped to the next village, and you should to! Tell them mayor Boodle sent you and you shouldn't have any problem getting sanctuary."

"Shishsishsi, no worries. I'm strong." Luffy declared with a bland smile. "And I'm here to pick up my ship."

Boodle blinked. That's why the name sounded familiar, the shipyard had finished a ship commissioned for a 'Luffy and Nami' earlier in the week. "Be that as it may, there are more important things than a ship, boy!"

Before anymore could be said, a new voice spoke. "Lookie here, boys. A boy out on a walk with his gramps and dog. Heart warming."

The speaker was a rough looking man who might've looked intimidating if not for his clownish getup. He was with a group a dozen or so similar men.

Luffy couldn't help but snicker at their appearance, which of course pissed them off.

-With Zoro-

The swordsman was kind of disappointed.

He may not have known Buggy's Roger, but he had heard of the crew's reputation. The captain clown was the only one with a bounty, but word was his crew was still pretty tough, with his top two men almost being worth a bounty themselves. Sighing he seethed one of his black katana, walking away from the bodies of several Buggy pirates. "Yosaku and Johny really need to get their rumors straight one of these days…"

The swordsman had never really appreciated just how different his definition of 'pretty tough' and the bounty hunter duo's were.

-Nami-

The orange haired kleptomaniac smiled as she leapt off the Big Top and headed for the shipyard, a sack heavy with three times her own weight in gold and jewels slung over one shoulder. "The ship might have been an eyesore," she giggled to herself, "but the treasure hold surely hadn't been!" There had even been a map of a portion of the Grand Line among her plunder, which she would study later.

'_Yes,_' she thought as she walked up to the caravelle she and Luffy had commissioned, taking a moment to admire the workmanship as it stood in a dry dock. '_Today is going rather well. Maybe we can get a discount for driving out Buggy's crew?_'

Crossing the gangplank, she went though the door leading inside ship, planning on stashing her bounty from the Big Top before joining her crew mates in town.

-Buggy-

The clown pirate laughed as he chugged another jug of beer. "Bring out the canon!"

His crew laughed, two of them rolling out a plain looking canon, another walking behind them handling a canon ball with care.

His and his crew's favorite party game was shooting of his 'Special Buggy Balls' as they drank and partied at the expense of whatever bar they'd taken over. Of course, his one shot of a Buggy ball was a hundred times flashier then any normal canon fire!

"Hmm," pulling a telescope from his overcoat he peered around looking for something to blow up in a flashy manner. After a minute, Buggy found just the thing, and had his men aim the canon accordingly before loading the Special Buggy Ball.

With a refilled jug of beer in one hand, he lit the fuse. With a roar, the Special Buggy Ball shot at the dry docked ship in the shipyard, leveling buildings it went before crashing into the ship, blowing it to pieces.

"Gyahahaha! Now THAT'S FLASHY!"

-Luffy-

Boodle could only stare, wide eyed at the the teen he'd just a minute before been warning about how dangerous the Buggy pirates were. Told him to go find safety in the next town! The old mayor had apparently had it backwards, and the pirates were the one in danger!

The strawhat wearing kid's smile had never left his face as the dozen men had rushed him with weapons drawn, incensed by his unabashed giggling at their clown themed clothes. And it didn't leave until the men, all at least half again as big as himself, were unconsciously strewn at his feet. "Wow," Luffy frowned at the pirates. "You guys are pretty damn weak."

Boodle gulped when the boy looked his way, "Oi, didn't say these guys were strong?" Luffy asked with a pout.

The old man blinked, unable to get a read on the younger man. "Um, I thought they were?"

Luffy huffed, "No worries, maybe their captain is!"

The sound of a canon going off caught their attention, and they turned towards the sound just in time to see houses get blown away as the canon ball shot towards the dock, where a large splash with wood shrapnel indicated a ship had been destroyed at the canon balls end target.

The three, for even the dog's eyes popped, watched in shock at the destruction.

"If I remember right," Boodle mumbled. "The only two ships in port are the Big Top and your ship."

Luffy started at that, "Nami was around there!" He closed his eyes as he strained his senses. He wasn't very good at what his grandpa had called kenbonshoku haki, but he knew Nami well enough that he could find her relatively easily most of the time.

-Zoro-

Zoro gave a low whistle as he watched the dust settle, from a few streets away. "What kind canon ball…?" He grinned, "Oh well, left me a pretty clear trail to follow."

A low growling sound caught his attention, and he tilted his head towards a side street. "I hope you're tougher then the last bunch I ran into."

A lion walked out of the shadows, it's bared teeth shined in the light as it continued to growl at him. It was a massive creature, the swordsman barely pulling even with it's shoulder. The feline predator would almost be intimidating, if not for the man riding on it's back a scrawny looking guy with…

"Is that supposed be some kind of fashion statement?"

The man looked pissed, "This my hair!"

Zoro grimaced, "Weirdo."

"I'm Mohji the Beast trainer! Vice-captain of the Buggy pirates!" The lion roared, leaping forward. "And this Richie!"

Zoro smiled as he prepared an iai technique, "Roronoa Zoro, pirate swordsman."

**A/N**

**Another chapter down. Much shorter then the first two, but 2-3 thousand word chapters are going to be more the norm. The prologue just felt better as a single chapter, and the second felt similar enough to canon that breaking it up for a little extra drama didn't feel worth it.**

**Thank you to all my reviewers, and those who reviewed but chose to do so in a PM.**

**To those of you who were turned off by my representation of Nami's sexuality as a forced plot device for a harem, I rewrote that scene and I hope I did a better job of it. I also hope that I killed to birds with one stone with Luffy's thoughts on Nami; firstly, yes, he is not asexual as he seems to be in canon and is actually, at least subconsciously at this point, aware of desire. Secondly, while he is smarter then canon, thanks to Nami having an influence in his early life(I seriously doubt canon Luffy can write, while I already have it implied in this story that he can)he is not going to be a genious. He's not some how in cahoots with his father or grandfather on some grand scheme. He's still just a man chasing 'freedom' on the sea, which I believe is the cornerstone of his character.**

**Shijiro also pointed out that it was weird that Nami thought they had more status in the east blue then a captain. They're pirates so infamy can be taken as a form of 'status', they'd certainly have high bounties already if the marines knew about them. It was just a throwaway thought to foreshadow that they do know who his father is. Sorry.**

**So, I have some votes in for crew, and they're about who you'd expect. Yosaku Johny Kaya and Nojiko have all gotten some love. I have roles in the crew planned out for each, so please don't hold back and vote for whoever, even someone else.**

**As for pairings, the standard 'gone to war for' girls have been suggested, ie Nami, Robin, Vivi. And Shhirahoshi and Hancock have also been suggested. You can vote for other pairings as well, not just Luffy.**

**Till next time. The Three Ring Circus.**


	4. A Three Ring Circus

She'd been lucky to have been walking away from the ship when the explosion had occurred, and even luckier to have been far away to not catch any shrapnel. But she could only stare as the everything settled down, pieces of the ship scattered across the ocean's surface (never mind the destroyed buildings).

'_Ship,_' Nami thought numbly. '_10 million Beli. The treasure from Alvida, 2 hundred thousand. The loot from Buggy's ship, easily another million…_' Turning on her heel, she started following the path of destruction, her hands assembling her staff.

Across town, the laughing pirate captain suddenly felt as if someone had walked across his grave.

-Zoro-

"Tch, not deep enough." Zoro grunted as he turned to face the lion and it's rider. He had stepped low when the beast had leapt, intending to cut open it's stomach, but the lion's underbelly had been made of tougher stuff then he'd anticipated.

Mohji patted Richie's flank as they turned back to the swordsman, the skill the swordsman having just displayed demanding a more cautious approach. The swordsman stood at the ready, the sword he'd slashed Richie's stomach held parallel to the ground in his left hand, his right hovering over the hilts of the other two swords resting at his right hip…

Slowly his mind did the math, and the resulting number had the color draining from his face. "Roronoa Zoro!"

Zoro's three earrings quietly clinked as he tilted his head, "I did introduce myself."

Mohji grimaced, he had a bad habit of not paying attention when someone brings up his fur/hair. "We'll be more serious now, knowing we're up against your famous santoryu."

A sharply angled eyebrow raised at that, "I've only drawn one."

The beast tamer's, no doubt scathing, retort was interrupted before it could begin by a cold voice.

"Stop playing, Zoro." Nami all but commanded as she walked up the street, her staff loosely gripped in one hand. The restrained anger in her voice making even the lion gulp. "These bastards blew up _our ship_."

-Luffy-

"Shouldn't you check on your friends?" Boddle tried again as he lead Luffy towards the town's biggest bar, where one of the pirates Luffy had beaten had told them most of the crew had gathered.

The raven haired teen just laughed, "I told you, I did! They're heading this way."

The mayor frowned, clearly worried about the sanity of the younger man, "I've been with you the whole time."

Luffy nodded,

"I haven't seen you talk to anyone else in that time, other than Chuchou."

Again, Luffy nodded.

A vein pulsed in Boodle's forehead. "Then how did you check on them?!"

He was ignored, Luffy was busy waving. "Oi, Nami, Zoro."

Turning to get a look at the teen's friends, Boodle swallowed nervously. There were two of them; an attractive woman with shoulder length orange hair and a scary look on her face, and a man with a black bandana tied around his head that cast an ominous shadow over his eyes.

"Who's the old man, Luffy?" The swordsman asked, eying the mayor as he and Nami walked up them.

"I'm the mayor, Boodle."

"Luffy," Nami's voice was deceptively soft. "They blew up our ship. I had loaded all the treasure onto it."

A slow, owlish blink, "Oh." He wasn't sure just how much they'd had lost, but he knew Nami would be on the warpath after losing the boat, let alone all the money. She'd spent years saving up and dreaming of their own ship.

-Flashback-

"What kind of ship do you want, Luffy?"

A 13 year old Monkey D Luffy smiled broadly. "An awesome one!"

A few feet away from him, also resting comfortably in the cliff's grass, Nami huffed. "You don't know a thing about ships, do you?"

"Nope!"

"Don't sound so excited about it!" Nami stared up at the fading sunset, "That ship is going be our home, for years. It has to be big enough for all the friends that join us, for all our loot." The 13 year old licked her lips at the thought of the treasure. "It has to be able to handle ship battles, and it will have to durable to handle what I hear is crazy weather."

"So, awesome," Luffy decide, grinning.

She tried again, spending a solid half hour imparting just how important having a good ship was to their dreams.

Eventually, a laugh interrupted her. "How much of that do you think he's actually going to remember, sis?"

Luffy and Nami looked towards the tree line to find Ace and Nojiko.

Luffy pouted, "That's mean, Nojiko. I remember things!"

Ace snorted, "Sure. Things like when it's time to eat, and when Nami visits. I doubt ships interest you enough; you'd probably just head out in a dinghy and see what happens."

"Well, that's why I'm here, isn't it?" Nami asked, knowing Ace was probably right.

Her sister nodded, "These brothers couldn't plan a damn thing without us."

"I planned our one year anniversary dinner last week just fine, thanks."

The older set of siblings broke into a contest of sorts; Ace talking about the plans he'd made without Nojiko's help, and she countering with what had gone _wrong_ with those plans.

"If you guys were any sweeter, I'd get indigestion." Nami shot at the couple.

They, being the mature older siblings, stuck their tongues at the orange haired girl. "It's about time to head to the Party. Yusuke would be sad if we don't make it in time to watch him blow out the candles."

"Just you watch, Luffy." Nami told him as they headed towards Fusha. "I'm going to get us an awesome ship."

He grinned, "I believe it."

-flashback end-

By now, the pirates up on the roof had noticed the small gathering in front of their base. "Captain! Looks like we have some heroes!"

The clown pirate laughed, walking over to side to take a look. It never failed, there'd always be a group of idiots towns people who tried to save the town before the marines could arrive; it was one of his favorite past times. "Such a small group this time." He was kinda disappointed, "Three punks and an old man?"

"Captain," Cabaji rolled up on his unicycle. "That man wearing a bandana… That's Roronoa Zoro."

That certainly piqued everyone's interest on the roof. "Isn't he a loner?" One of the crew asked, "What's with the other three?"

"Probably just townsfolk?"

"Oi!" The woman of the group stepped forward, her raised voice easily reaching them. "You bastards blew up our ship, either come down here or we're coming up there."

Buggy, as well as the rest of his crew, burst into laughter. "Are you threatening me, girly?" The captain raid a hand, two of his men rolled a canon up beside him. "You're a hundred years to early to take someone of my level on! Die a flashy death!"

Zoro and Boodle freaked as the canon shot it's load at them, though Nami and Luffy didn't seem to care.

"Cannonball? Heh, no problem." The strawhat wearing pirate drew in a large breath, "Gomu gomu balloon." The rubberman's belly grew at an alarming rate until his torso had ballooned out to the size of a small building. The elastic body took the cannon ball head, bouncing it back to where it had come from.

"Coulda said something," Zoro muttered, disgruntled with himself for panicking. His captain's abilities were going to take some getting used to.

The bar was totally destroyed by the explosive cannonball impact, the three pirates impatiently waiting for the smoke to clear form the wreckage.

"So much for us dying a 'flashy death'," Zoro snarked.

Boodle just fell to his knees, staring in shock.

"This is the biggest humiliation our crew has ever suffered, captain!"

"I'm so mad, words fail me."

Two men stood among the rubble and unconscious bodies, each holding a pair of their own crew as human shields.

The man on a unicycle simply dropped his shields, but Buggy reared back and threw his two at the trio, specifically Luffy and Nami.

The two didn't even blink, "Outa our way." Luffy's was sent flying into a building by simple round house kick, the one flying at Nami meeting a similar fate by way of her staff.

"I am Cabaji the acrobat!" The unicyclist was rushing Luffy, sword raised for a thrust. "I'll avenge the pain you've caused my crew!"

The thrust was blocked by the flat of one Zoro's swords as the swordsman put himself between the two. "If it's a sword fight, I'm you're man."

"It's an honor, Roronoa Zoro, to be able to slay you."

"Sorry," Cabaji reacted just fast enough to get out of the way of Nami's staff. "But Zoro got to take out the other guy, so it's my turn."

"Other guy..? You mean Mohji and Richie have already been beaten?!"

"That was his name," Zoro confirmed, before eying Nami. "Oi, he's a swordsman, he's mine."

"Please," Nami huffed as she began to spin her weapon. "It's not like he'd actually give you a challenge, Zoro; you could have a hole in your gut and still beat him." Seeing his expression, she sighed. "Look, I promise you can fight any bountied swordsmen we encounter, I just really need to beat one of these guys up."

"Remember that promise," Zoro grunted, seathing his swords and taking off his bandana. Deciding if he wasn't going to fight that he'd have a seat against a building to watch. He didn't like giving away the swordsman, but she did have a point that he got to fight the only other strong crew member (He had no doubt Luffy wouldn't let him take the captain).

Beside, a hole in his gut? He could've beat this guy with his side cut open.

Cabaji didn't seem to appreciate that, "It seems I'm being underestimated."

Nami just gestured for him to come at her.

Looking genuinely pissed, Cabaji peddled full speed at the orange haired woman, coming to a sudden stop a foot away as pulled down his scarf. "Acrobatic technique, fire trick!" He exhaled a burst of flame in Nami's face.

She'd been momentarily surprised by the sudden stop, but ducked in time to dodge the rush of fire, attempting to nock him off his wheel with a low spin kick. Unperturbed when the acrobatic swordsman jumped over her sweeping leg, she smoothly transitioned her momentum into a lunging motion that rammed the end of her staff into his solar plexus and knocked him flat on his back.

Cabaji couldn't believe he'd been embarrassed so casually by a woman. Struggling to breath after the solid hit, he picked his sword and ran at her, not even bothering to get back on his unicycle.

With an almost bored sigh, Nami deflected the sword with her staff and, continuing the in that direction, spun her body in a 360 to nail a back kick into her opponent's gut. Before he could even fall to his knees the navigator's staff was speeding at his ribs.

The sickening crunch of multiple ribs breaking filled the air as Cabaji was flung several yards away, where he laid unconscious. "Tag," Nami said as she passed Luffy, her hand raised.

"Shishishi," Luffy met her hand for a high five as he stepped forward.

"Feel better?" Zoro queried as the the navigator walked over to sit next him and Boodle (who had joined him during Nami's fight, deciding that was probably the best thing he could do).

"Only a bit," Nami admitted as she sat down, smoothing her denim skirt under her. "The real satisfaction comes when their captain gets beaten to a pulp."

"Ah," Zoro's smile had an edge of dark humor. '_Never thought I'd meet a woman I could get along with so well._'

Buggy rolled his neck as he and the teen squared off, "That was your ship in the harbor, heh?"

Luffy nodded, "Yeah. Nami worked a long time to buy that ship." He slid into crouch, ready to get a running start. "I'm gonna have to really kick your ass now."

"Tch, What were punks like you going to do with a ship from this town, anyway?"

"Sail the the Grand Line; I'm gonna be Pirate King."

It almost looked like Luffy had managed to fry the other pirate's brain for a minute. "Don't kid around, you damn fool! You become Pirate King? That must make a god then! I'm the one who will get his hands on all the worlds treasure!"

"Skip the lectures," Luffy responded, cracking his knuckles.

Buggy pulled out multiple large knives, holding one between each finger on both hands. "You and that strawhat are bringing up unpleasant memories of that red haired bastard…" he muttered, mostly to himself.

Everyone heard him, though, which piqued Luffy and Nami's curiosity. "Red Haired? You know Shanks?"

"Hmm? That's surprising, you seem pretty interested. Yeah, I know him. Why do you care?"

"Where is he now?"

Buggy grinned, scratching his chin. "Where…? Well… if I know then I know. And if I don't know then I could also not know anything at all!"

Luffy cocked his head, giving his patented owl like stare. "Are you an idiot?"

Over at their spot, Zoro raised an eyebrow. "Who's Shanks?"

Nami smiled, "Yonkou Red Haired Shanks. He's Luffy's idol, and my hero."

Her two fellow audience members stared at her in shock. "You guys know a Yonkou?"

"Well, he wasn't one when we met him, but yeah. He's the one who gave Luffy his hat."

Zoro was about to say more before the fight caught his attention, "What the fuck!"

Buggy had revealed small knives under the toes of his shoes, but that's not what caught their attention. He had apparently disconnected his body at the waist an _flung_ his lower body at Luffy.

Luffy, while surprised by the attack, managed to leap in the air in time to dodge the spinning legs.

"Moving here and there in the air, is probably hard for you!" Buggy yelled, throwing the knives in his hand at the airborne Luffy.

"Nah," he stretched out to grab a nearby post, retracting his arm to pull himself out of harms way.

Buggy grinned, "Just what kind of fruit did you eat?"

"Gomu gomu pistol!" His arm shot forward.

'_A rubber man, heh?_' The older pirate thought as he side stepped the punch. "It's an interesting ability, boy! But the stretched out arms sure makes a juicy target!"

He raised yet more knives.

The arm, without Buggy realizing it, had stretched to the point it could grab on to a building behind him, which Luffy used to pull himself bodily forward as fast as his elastic body could retract. "Gomu gomu scythe!" His other arm was ready to clothesline the clown pirate.

"Bara Bara escape!" Buggy head disattached just into to not be forcefully taken off.

"What kind of fruit did _you_ eat?" Luffy asked curiously as he landed from his attack.

"The bara bara no mi, I'm a man of sections." His head reattached itself to his body, "Lucky thing that you didn't have your swordsman fight me, swords have no effect on me."

"A man that can't be cut and a man who can't be bludgeoned," Boodle whispered in shock, his voice almost making Zoro and Nami Jump. "What kind of people…"

Nami shrugged, growing up with a fruit user made the situation not seem that out of the ordinary (even if Buggy was the only other fruit user she'd seen in action) "Devil fruits," she answered simply, as if it explained everything.

And it does, if you can wrap your head around it.

In the debris of the bar, a few of the buggy pirates had regained consciousness, "Stay quiet, we've no chance in a fight like that."

Buggy aimed his hand, again holding knives between each finger, at his opponent. "Bara bara canon!" His arm separated at the mid forearm, launching as if from an actual cannon.

Unlike an actual cannonball, however, the knives had a cutting edge that forced Luffy to dodge the attack rather the bouncing it back, though it came close enough knick his hat and knock it off his head.

Zoro, who'd been watching the fight with interest since it was the first time he'd seen his captain fight, felt a chill run up his spine. Turning to check the nearest source, he found Nami, whose whole countenance had changed. If she'd been pissed earlier, he didn't know to describe the sheer anger the navigator was projecting.

The second was Luffy, who had picked up his hat before staring Buggy with easily the angriest expression Zoro had seen on the younger man's face to date.

"Bastard, how dare you mess with my hat!"

The clown pirate looked dubious, "What?"

"This hat is my treasure!I won't forgive anyone who messes with it!"

"If the hat's so damn precious…" Behind Luffy, Buggy's still detached hand threw one of it's knives, which he dodged easily, but stumbled. His arms, hat still in one hand, waving as he tried to gather his balance. The hand, still with the knives took aim and speared the strawhat. "Then you should protect it better!" he laughed as his hand reattached, with the hat still skewered on it's knives.

Zoro kept a careful eye on his two crew mates, something in his senses warning of a coming danger.

"That's the hat Shanks gave me to mark our promise!" Luffy all but growled, starting a slow walk forward.

"You mean this is_ actually_ that red haired bastard's hat?" Buggy asked, throwing it on the ground. "I guess it looked familiar, but I thought it was probably just another strawhat." He spat on it. "He and I started out on same ship, way back."

Luffy eyes were colorless as he stared at his opponent, "Shanks was great man… you say you were comrades?"

Buggy frowned, there was something familiar about angry expression. "Tch, in my whole life no one has made me angrier then that ma-"

He was cut off by Luffy suddenly sprinting in front of him and raining punches into the older pirate's torso before he had a chance to separate, his body only doing it on it's own when cut.

"I don't give a shit about your reasons," Luffy declared, burying a particularly hard left cross into his ribs, getting a satisfying crack as Buggy skidded away from the force. "Don't put you and Shanks in the same sentence again."

As Buggy stood on wobbly legs, his memory find caught up with him, '_This damn brat._' He thought eying the teenager warily. '_He has_ that _potential!_'

Years of being a top dog in East Blue had given Buggy an over inflated opinion of himself, but he (finally) remembered who had given off this sort of feel when they'd been angry. '_One in a million odds, and I meet with one here in East Blue?_'

"MEN!" He yelled, "We're retreating for today!"

The 'unconscious' pirates all leapt to their feet and booked it for the docks, a pair of them picking the still KO'd Cabaji.

"We'll meet again, strawhat!" Buggy yelled as he ran off.

"Oi, Luffy. Shall I chase them down?" Zoro asked from where he'd been sitting.

"Nah," Luffy said quietly. "I wouldn't waste your time on those cowards."

Zoro nodded, though he still kept a careful eye on both his captain and navigator. "So, what're we going to do about the fact they blew up our ship?"

-A few hours later, the docks-

The pirates sighed in relief, seeing that their small boat was still intact. They'd been worried that the Buggy pirates had sunk it in the chance it belonged to them, but they'd apparently gotten out of port as fast as humanly possible.

"Are you three sure…" Boodle began, but Nami waved him off.

"You have a town to rebuild." Luffy and Zoro were loading supplies from a a wagon Zoro had pulled beside their boat. "We'll take the supplies, gladly, but your man power has to be focused on your town before it builds any more ships. Besides, your ship yard was pretty messed up from the explosion to, so we'd be waiting far to long to take on of your ships."

"A-at least let me ref-"

Nami held up a hand, "Mayor Boodle, just don't."

"Sishishishi, Nami refusing money? The world's ending!"

"Shut up!" Name roared, hitting her captain over the head.

"It hurts~"

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "How…? Aren't you made of rubber?"

Boodle sighed, "Can I offer some advice, then?"

"Shoot,"

"About a day south of here there's you'll find Gecko island,"

Nami nodded, knowing the layout of East Blue like the back of her hand.

"In the main village, Syrup, there's a well to do family. Go there and ask for Merry, he was a one time apprentice here before he went to work as the families butler. He makes some fine ships in his spare time, tell him it's a favor to me and he should be able to help you guys out."

Nami licked her lips nervously, "A well to do family in Syrup?"

Boodle nodded, not seeming to pick up on the young woman's anxiousness, "Yes… Hm, the Kouda family, I believe it was."

She forced a smiled, "Thanks for the lead, Mayor."

"Oi," Zoro caught her attention. "We're all ready to shove off, navigator."

A few minutes later, the trio were once more heading out to sea.

Nami was almost glad Buggy had torn three large holes in the precious strawhat. Setting their course had taken only a brief minute, and patching the straw work of the hat was always something she could lose herself in. Just how old was it? She'd been patching it for years now, ever since Makino had declared her skill proficient enough, and she always used orange thread, but there was other colored threads, older patches then her own or Makino's (who had always used a sky blue thread).

She could always lose herself wondering about the hat's story as she worked, which was welcomed after hearing that their best bet for a ship was in Syrup village.

"Nami," Luffy stood in the small boats cabin door.

She blinked, her impression of an owl on par with Luffy's, "Yeah?"

"We can go somewhere else. Find a ship somewhere else."

Zoro, sitting against the edge of the boat across from Nami, opened a single eye, "There something I need to know about this place? I can't seem to remember any bounties from that area."

Nami sighed, "I'll be fine, Luffy, thanks for caring though. Zoro, it's nothing like that. I wish it were that easy."

Zoro opened both eyes, waiting patiently.

With another sigh, Nami stated it plainly. "Kouda Kaya, the Kouda's only daughter, was my first girlfriend, and she broke my heart 3 years ago."

**A/N**

**So, who saw that last twist coming? Not a damn one, I bet. Also, since there's no last name given Kaya, I used her Japanese voice actress's family name.**

**I hope everyone liked how I changed up the fights. I also hope the fights scenes themselves were written decently. Yes, I had Buggy flee instead of getting sent flying, but I couldn't find a natural way for him get sent flying as in cannon, since Nami wasn't going to get involved, and I honestly think he'd book it if he met anyone showing signs Haoshoku Haki.**

**So, Ace and Nojiko were in a relationship before he he set out? Did they break up, stay together but apart, or did Nojiko go with him? You'll have to wait and see.**

**A lot of people are asking if I'm filling in the Arlong arc with my first totally original arc, so Luffy's bounty can be the same as cannon when he hits the Grand Line. Maybe it'll be higher? Maybe he'll simply have a lower bounty? (which would be fun, people underestimating even more then in cannon, while he's actually stronger?)**

**Also, you can vote for pairings other just Luffy. Zoro's my third favorite character, so he's getting someone(s). I don't much care for Sanji, but you can still suggest something you may find interesting. And is Kaya still an option for Ussop if she dated Nami?**

**The scene about fixing the hat is a reference/tribute to one of my favorite oneshots, 'We roll and go' by romancedon. Also check out her story 'the bird and the tree and the sea'.**

**I think that's everything, I hope everyone enjoyed it. Next chapter; The heartbreaker and the liar (working title)**


	5. The Liar and the Oujou-sama

A long nosed teen laughed to himself as the villagers wandered away from his hiding spot up in the trees. "Haha, this village needs some excitement!"

"Captain!"

The teen looked down from his perch, smiling when he saw his three younger friends. "Oh Oh, you guys!"

The nine year olds were all dress as pirates, even having small wooden sores that they raised high in salute, "A report, Captain Ussop!"

"Oh?" Ussop scurried his way down tree. "What's going on?"

The shortest, Tamenegi, answered. "I saw three strangers land on the north side of the island."

"So?"

"One of them had a Jolly Roger tattoo, another carried three swords!"

'Three swords? What, is he afraid of breaking one?' Usopp sweat dropped, 'Well, there's only three of them, and a lot of people are getting fake Jolly Rogers these days…' He grinned, "For the peace of the village, Usopp Pirates move out!"

-The south shore-

Nami couldn't quiet quell the nervousness in her stomach as she looked up at the treeline that she knew hid a small village from sight. She was doing this, going to see Kaya for the first time since the blonde had ended their brief relationship.

Luffy glanced up at his navigator as he helped Zoro tie their boat down. "Ready, Nami?" When she didn't respond, he stood up and stepped towards her. "Nami," the small shift in his tone, a touch more authoritive, got her attention.

With a gentle smile, he reached up and moved his hat from his head to her own. "You'll be fine, Nami."

She grinned, "Of course."

Zoro watched the scene indifferently. He had no real empathy for relationship troubles, having kept his romantic dealings to one night stands; he considered his time better spent on training or napping. His sharp eyes caught movement on top of one of the beach's cliffs. "We've got some watchers."

The Usopp pirates jumped as the trio on the shore stared up at them.

After freezing for a brief moment, Usopp crossed his arms and stood to his full height. "I am the great pirate fleet leader, Usopp, who is in charge of this island's security! I'm also known as 'captain', 'Captain Usopp'!" He, and his three friends ran down the hill, coming to a stop in front of the three pirates. "It's best if you don't attack this village, because my 80 million men will retaliate!"

Zoro ginned evilly, "Sounds fun, bring it on, 'Captain Usopp'."

The 'captain' and his friends seemed to lose their confidence at that. "My my 90 million men…"

Nami sighed, "If you're going to lie, at least keep your lies in order."

"I've been caught!" The curly haired teen gasped, seeming unable to believe it. The kids standing behind him broke into a sprint, literally running for the hills.

Luffy had to hold his belly as he laughed, "Shishishi, you're funny."

"I am the man everyone calls 'honorable Usopp', don't underestimate me!"

-Some time later, a small tavern-

"A boat and companions!" Usopp repeated the three's reasons for visiting Syrup village.

"Mainly the boat," Nami said, her captain's hat still on her head. "The only person we'd actually planned on recruiting was Zoro, though we were hoping to visit the famous Beratie to see if we could recruit one of their fighting chefs."

"And a musician!" Luffy added around a mouthful of food.

"And a musician," Nami chuckled, her friend had a great love for music (without a gift for any type of it). "And we have a pretty good lead that there might be a boat here."

Usopp nodded, "Merry, a butler up at Kaya's mansion, has a caravel."

"Kaya?" Zoro asked, seeing neither of his crew mates were about to say anything.

Usopp nodded, "Yeah, Kouda Kaya. She lives in a mansion not far from the village, the ship was a birthday gift from her butler." He sighed, "Not that she uses it. She's a weak, sickly girl who can't leave her bed much."

That caught Luffy and Nami by surprise. The Kaya they remembered had never been the most active girl, but she certainly hadn't been sickly.

"About a year ago," Usopp continued. "Her parent's passed away, leaving her to inherent wealth, the mansion and over ten servants! I guess no amount of money exempts you from sorrow."

There was minute of silence, the three pirates having nothing to say and Usopp seeming to be waiting for a reaction. When none was forthcoming, he pointed at Luffy. "You said you were looking for crew mates, right?"

Luffy grinned, "Yeah, you know someone who might be interested?"

The suspender wearing teenager grinned, pointing at himself with his thumb. "Let me be the captain, and I'll join you three."

"Rejected," the three nakama monotoned as one.

Usopp sputtered, "What's with the attitude?"

Nami sighed, "Usopp. The only captain Zoro or I have any desire to follow is Luffy."

The swordsman nodded; he hadn't been with the other two more then a week, but the charismatic rubber man had certainly grown on him. And he was surprised, again, by how well the bo user seemed to understand him, just like their captain did.

Suddenly, the long nosed teen took notice of the time, "That time already?" He stood from the table, "Sorry, I have to run." With that, he was out the door.

Nami huffed, "Sure. Run off on your share of the bill, no doubt." With a quick look to make sure Luffy and Zoro were done eating, she slapped an appropriate sum of Beli on table and stood up. "Shall we?"

Her crew mates nodded, also standing up. As they made to leave three kids, whom they recognized from the beach, appeared. "What have you done to the captain!"

The older trio shrugged, "Who knows?" Zoro said, rubbing his stomach. "Good meal."

Luffy laughed, "Meat's the best!"

Zoro grinned as the kids starting freaking out. "Your captain… just now, we ate him."

The pirates laughed as the three kids fainted. After helping them up, the six walked out of the tavern.

"'That time already'?" Tamenegi repeated. "Must've been time for him to go to the mansion."

"The Kouda mansion?" Nami asked, finding it hard to believe the other teen was someone who'dvisit Kaya's family. Seeing the affirmative nod, she asked, "Whatever for?"

The cap wearing kid answered, "To tell lies!"

-Kaya's bedroom-

Kaya sighed as her head butler left her alone. She knew Klahadore only had her best interests at heart, but he could be so… vexing in his strictness.

She knew better then anyone how her health had deteriorated the last few years. How she got light headed easily, couldn't move around her own room without tiring, and could never quiet eat a normal portion of food. She'd never been an overly energetic girl, not like….

The blonde shook her head. She hadn't thought of Nami, or their short lived relationship, in ages. Her parents, while very kind and understanding people, had scolded her for the first time in her life when they'd found out. She'd been determined to continue visiting Nami anyway (her parents were often away on business, and the butlers and maids would have kept her secret, she was sure), but the sickness had set in and she'd gotten weaker almost daily. Nami, and her family, were all adventurous people whom took all of Kaya's energy to keep up with at the best of times.

She had decided she didn't want to be the one broken up with, which she was sure would be out come, so she sent Nami a letter. Just thinking of the pain she must have done to her old friend filled with her angst; she hadn't even had the decency to do it to her face.

Such a weak girl didn't belong with someone as strong as Nami, and she was sure that by now…

Well, Kaya was sure her ex hadn't needed to wait as long as she did to find someone to fill the space.

"Knock knock," it was as if her thoughts had summoned him. A broad smile spread across the pale girl's face. He'd come the first time a little less then a year ago, looking to see if 'the courage of a warrior of the sea' could conquer a 'fair maidens sadness'.

"Usopp-san…"

The young man smiled, sitting at the base of the tree outside Kaya's bedroom window. "You had an even more depressed look then usual."

"Thinking of an old friend," she replied. "I'm sorry, Usopp-san. I wanted to invite you in as a proper guest, but Klahadore won't allow it."

"Never mind, I'm comfortable here. The somberness in there would suffocate me; I'm a brave warrior of the seas, after all."

She smiled, and Usopp's heart beat a little a quicker. "So which adventure are you going to tell me today?"

-Luffy and co, on the way to the mansion-

Nami double checked, "So he tells her stories to lift her spirits?" She smiled as the kids nodded eagerly. '_You seem to have found a good friend, Kaya._'

They walked up to the gate, and Luffy smiled, "Lend me a ship!" He then climbed right over it.

"What was the point of that greeting?"

Nami chuckled, "No one can stop him when he's set on something."

"Since we can't stop him, we'll just have to follow him." Zoro stated plainly.

A minute later, they were all over the gate and the kids were leading them to Kaya's bedroom window, which was where most of the story telling took place.

"Captain!" The kids called out as they rounded the corner. "We brought this guy!"

Usopp sputtered, and Kaya tilted her head; the black haired teen seemed familiar.

Before Luffy could get a word in, Ussop draped an arm over his shoulders. "This guy has traveled far to meet me."

"Yeah," Luffy replied, with a deadpanned sarcasm. "No. I have a request, Kaya!"

She blinked, he definitely acted as if she knew him. "A request?"

"Yeah," the teen responded, though she was momentarily distracted by two more figures rounded the corner. "We need a shi-"

A stern voice interrupted before he could finish, or Kaya could get a look at who else had walked up. "What are you doing here?"

Klahadore strolled up from the opposite direction that pirates had come from. "You can't just barge into the mansion like this!" He waved off his oujou-sama's attempt to explain. "Please get out! Or is there an actual reason for your visit?"

"I want a ship," Luffy replied, smiling unabashedly.

"No way," Klahadore replied cooly.

Zoro raised an eyebrow, "Aren't you just a butler?" The question seemed to throw off the people from the island. "What? We came to speak to the owner, not her butler."

Eventually Klahadore coughed, "A fair point. I shall let you and your friends speak to Kaya-oujou-sama. You," he turned to Ussop. "On the other hand must leave. You are Usoppp-kun, correct?"

The overall wearing teen slapped on a confident smile. "Indeed! You may call me captain Usopp, everyone does!"

Klahadore sighed, "I know you seem to keep oujou-sama entertained, but I simply can't allow the son of a filthy pirate to be in her presence. You must leave. Is it money you're looking for?"

Kaya seemed to have reached the end of her patience. "Klahadore! That is enough! Apologize to Usopp-san at once!"

The butler raised his hands, "There is no need for me to apologize to a pirates son. I'm simply speaking the truth." Adjusting his glasses with his palm, he sneered at curly haired teen. "I do feel sorry for you… You must hate your father, right? Just another dumb treasure hunter that left his family and village behind."

"Klahadore!"

"I won't let you say another word against my father." Usopp growled, fists clenching at his sides.

"Why so angry? Maybe you should've used one of your lies to pretend your father was a merchant sailor, or that he wasn't even your father…"

Usopp had had enough, sprinting forward he clocked the older man across the face. "Shut up!"

"See," the sprawled out man sat up. "So violent! Like father, like son…"

"Shut up," Usopp repeated. "I like to lie, but I'm proud my father is a pirate, a brave warrior of the sea! I don't want to say he isn't my father! I AM THE SON OF A PIRATE!"

Something seemed to click in Luffy's mind, image of a sharp shooting pirate flashing in his mind. "Oh, he's…"

"A brave warrior of the sea?" The butler scoffed, "Don't twist the truth. It's that savage blood that makes you lie so much, and to turn to violence so readily!" He stood, patting the dirt from his once pristine suit. "I firmly believe you're only here to get money, but who cares what your reason actually is! Your father being a lowly pirate gives me plenty of reason to kick you out!"

Usopp grabbed him by the collar, "Say it again!"

"Usopp-san, please don't resort to violence!"

Though he clearly didn't want to, he did as his friend asked and stepped away from the slick haired butler. Klahadore smiled cruelly, "I'll let you off this time, but leave now and don't come back!"

Usopp spat at the man's feet, "I'm out of here." He turned and headed for the gates. "I don't need you to tell me to."

Luffy glared, and everyone felt a shiver run up their spine. "Don't," his voice calm and authoritative, despite the clear anger in his eyes. "Talk badly about pirates or someone else's family again." Turning on his heel, he left.

After a moment of silence, a soft sigh brought everyone's attention to an orange haired woman wearing a straw hat. "

Kaya's eyes widened in recognition, "N-nami?"

The orangette forced a smile, "Hey, Kaya."

The blonde stared before speaking with a shocked calm. "Everyone, leave. Klahadore, you said you'd let them speak with me."

Kuro nodded reluctantly, "I shall head into town and run a few errands, oujou-sama."

Zoro shrugged, "Come on, Kids. These two have a lot to talk about." The swordsman shepherded the 'Usopp pirate group' off the property.

Nami's smile was a bit more honest, "Thanks, Zoro."

He waved her off,

Kaya stared at her ex. The vibrant orange hair under a familiar frayed straw hat (which meant the black haired teen had likely been a grown up Luffy), how her denim skirt and white tank top showed off her body, which was a perfect mix of lean muscles and and soft curves.

At first glance, Nami decided, Kaya didn't look that sickly. Her pale, spindly body could be considered classically beautiful, especially with her muted blonde hair framing soft brown eyes. But a closer look revealed signs of a long sickness; she was _too _thin, her eyes were sunken (though a light powder-job made it less noticeable) and she simply looked like an overpowered gust could blow her away.

"Hey," Nami repeated. "Been too long, Kaya."

"Nami," the blonde's voice was shaky. ""W-what are you doing here?"

The orangette smiled, exaggerating a mock curtsy that made her Roger tattoo clearly visible. "The Strawhat pirates have come to ask for a ship, Kouda-oujou-sama."

Seemingly encouraged by the shorter girls attitude, Kaya smiled. "Well, quartemaster-san. We will have to come to terms, now won't we?" It was reminiscent of their banter back whe they'd been together. The 'terms' wouldn't be the same, of course, but maybe this meeting wouldn't be as bad as she'd first feared. "You can start with what happened to the one I know you would've personally designed and commissioned."

**A/N**

**Well, I've seem to have set up a bit of a rhythm, hopefully I can keep with the biweekly updates. This was easily the hardest chapter yet, trying to get that last scene right as well as the breakup story. Hopefully it was all up to scruff. It went smooth to start with, but will it stay that way? Thanks again for the positive reviews, keep them coming. A few positive words go a long way to helping a writer to do what we do. Constructive criticism is good too. Knowing I wrote something good enough to have a written response is awesome (I myself don't review nearly enough) The favs and alerts help too ;)**

**Next chapter, a Crescent Moon Night.**


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